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THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

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THE REPUBLIC

R AGUS A

AN EPISODE OF THE

TURKISH CONQUEST

By LUIGI VILLARI

BVZAMTllia liOOD-KNOCKIII, KICTOR's

Bt WtLLIAM HULTON

LONDON: J. M. DENT & CO.

29 y 30 BEDFORD STREET, W.C.

MCMIV

Printed by Ballanttnb. Hanson 6* Co.
At the Ballantyne Preu

PREFA^TORY NOTE

VARIOUS accounts of Dalmatia have been written
in English, many of which include a historical
survey of Ragusa ; but the only special histories
of the town itself are in German or Italian, and even
those are not by any means complete. The best is un-
doubtedly Professor Gelcich's little book, Dello Sviluppo
Civile di Ragusa^ a perfect mine of valuable information,
of which I have availed myself largely in the present
volume. But it deals principally with the internal
development, the archeology, and the architecture of
the town, and does not dwell on its international
position, which for foreign readers is its most import-
ant aspect. Engel's Geschichte des Freystaates Ragusa
is useful and fairly accurate, but it is somewhat dry,
and more in the nature of a chronicle of events than
a real history. The works of the local historians and
chroniclers, such as Resti, Ragnina, Luccari, Gondola,
and others, although they contain some interesting
details and picturesque descriptions, traditions, &c.,
are written without a notion of historical accuracy,
and are inspired by a strong bias which admits no
facts unfavourable to Ragusa. That of the Tuscan,
Razzi, is more reliable, but by no means wholly to be
depended on, and it only brings us down to the end

383326

vi PREFATORY NOTE

of the sixteenth century. The safest guide to the
subject is to be found in the original records of the
town, a large portion of which have been published
by the South-Slavonic Academy of Agram, by the
Hungarian Academy, and various other collections of
documents on the history of the Southern Slaves, such
as Miklosich's Monumenta Serbica^ Marin Sanudo, the
works of Theiner, Poetic, Farlati, &c. The modern
works on the history of Ragusa of which I have made
the most use, besides the above-mentioned work of
Professor Gelcich, are the same author's pamphlets. La
Zedda and / Conti di Tuhelj ; T. Graham Jackson's
Dalmatia for the chapters on Ragusan architecture ;
Paul Pisani's Num Ragusini^ &c., for the Venetian period,
and his large work La Dalmatie de 1797 i 1815 for the
€nd of the Republic ; Klaic's Geschichte Bosniens for the
relations between Ragusa and Bosnia ; Heyd's Histoire du
Commerce du Levant and Professor Jire^ek's Handelsstrassen
und Bergwerke for Ragusa's commercial development;
Horatio Brown's Venice for Venetian history ; and Puipin
and Spasowicz' history of Slavonic literature. A fuller
list of authorities consulted is appended.

I must express my especial indebtedness to Professor
Gelcich for the assistance and encouragement which he
afforded me in preparing this volume. I also received
valuable aid from Signor V. Adamovic, who kindly
placed his library at my service during my stay at
Ragusa ; to Signor A. de Serragli, who gave much
information on the topography and archeology of the
town; to the Padre Bibliotecario of the Franciscan
Monastery, who assisted me in my researches? and to

PREFATORY NOTE vii

Signer Giovanni Saraca. I may say that during my
visits to Dalmatia I always found the natives courteous
and kindly, and willing to assist me in every way,
especially at Ragusa. Of the many features which
Dalmatia has in common with Italy, the one which I
must call attention to is the fact that in every Dalmatian
town there is always at least one local antiquary who
has made a life-study of the history and archeology,
working with no other thought than the love of the
subject, and always willing to assist other students.

I am also indebted to Mr. Herbert P. Home, who
kindly assisted me in the chapters dealing with archi-
tecture and painting.

In the spelling of the Slavonic names I have adopted
the Croatian orthography, as being the most convenient
and the most accurate. The following letters have a
peculiar pronunciation : —

C = ts in bits. Thus Cavtat is pronounced Tsavtat.

C = ch in which. Thus Milja^ka is pronounced Miljachka.

C is almost identical to the above, but is used only at the
end of a word when preceded by an /. Thus Gunduli(^
is pronounced Gundulich.

G is always pronounced hard, as in gig,

H is like the German ch in Buch.

J=y in yet. Thus Jajce is pronounced Yaytse. When at
the end of a*word and preceded by the letters / or « it
softens them into something like the French / in mouilli
and the French gne in signe. Thus Sandalj and Sinj.

The letter r is sometimes a semi-vowel, and is pronounced
like eurre in French, but less definitely. Many syllables
have no other vowel. Thus the name Hrvoje,

S = J in since (never like s in nose).

viii PREFATORY NOTE

S = sh in shave. Thus Dusan is pronounced Dushan.

U = 00 in boot,

Z = z in b/aze,

i, is like the French/ in Jour.

In the case of well-known names and words which
are usually spelt in another way, I have adhered to the
common orthography. Thus I have written Mildosich
instead of Miklosii, and Tsar instead of Car. Dalmatians
of Italian sympathies, but having Slavonic names, invari-
ably use the cA in the place of l or /.

For the spelling " Slave," instead of the more common
"Slav," my authority is Professor Freeman, who in a
note on p. 386 of the Third Series of his Essays gives
the following reasons for it: "First, no English word
ends in v. Secondly, we form the names of other
nations in another way ; we say a Swede ^ a Dane^ and a
Pole^ not a Swed^ a Dan^ or a Pol. Thirdly, it is im-
portant to bear in mind the history of the word — the
fact that slave in the sense of 8ov\o^ is simply the same

word with the national name.*'

.. * . •

-n.^.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. INTRODUCTION i

II. THE FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY OF

THE CITY (656-1204) 15

III. VENETIAN SUPREMACY : I.— THE CONSTITU-

TION AND THE LAWS (1204-1276) ... 58

IV. VENETIAN SUPREMACY : II.~SERVIAN AND

BOSNIAN WARS (i 276-1 358) 90

V. THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 115^

VI. ART IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH

CENTURIES 149

VII. RAGUSA UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY—

THE TURKISH INVASION (1358-1420) . . 163

VIII. THE TURKISH CONQUEST (1420-1526) .219

IX. TRADE AND INTERNAL CONDITIONS DURING

THE HUNGARIAN PERIOD 263

X. RAGUSA INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY (1526-

1667) 278

XI. RAGUSAN SHIPS AND SEAMEN IN THE SERV-
ICE OF SPAIN 306

X CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGB

XII. FROM THE EARTHQUAKE TO THE NAPOLEONIC

WARS (1667-1797) 317

XIII. ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 339

XIV. LITERATURE 370

XV. THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 382

LIST OF BOOKS ON THE HISTORY AND TOPO-
GRAPHY OF RAGUSA 417

INDEX ... . . .421

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Portrait of Marino Caboga {Photogravure) , Frontispiece
{From the Galleria di Ragusei Illmtri)

Byzantine Door-knocker, Rector's Palace . Title-page

PAGE

Entrance to the Harbour of Ragusa . . . i
View of Ragusa facing 15

{From p. G. Coronelh*s " Fie*ivs 0/ Dalmatiay" 1680)

Onofrio's Fountain in the Piazza .... 41
The Quay and Harbour Gate .... facing 54

Ragusa from the East facing 58

Torre Menze 66

General View of Ragusa, from the West . . 83
Bas-relief of St. Blaize, near the Porta Ploce . 95

Plan of Ragusa facing 97

Fortifications of Stagno Grande .... 99
Cloister of the Franciscan Monastery . . facing 108
Courtyard of the Sponza (Custom House) . .121

Facade of the Sponza (Custom House), and Clock

Tower 131

Capital in the Franciscan Cloister . . . .152
Capital in the Franciscan Cloister . . . -153
Facade of the Rector's Palace . . . . facing 168
Apothecary's Garden, Franciscan Monastery . .189
Entrance to the Franciscan Monastery . . facing 196
Terrace of the Franciscan Monastery, with the

Torre Menze in the Background . . . 207

Xll

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGB

Cloister of the Dominican Monastery . . .231

Sketch Map of the Territories of the Ragusan

Republic facing 240

The Orfjindo Column 249

Bird's-eye View of Ragusa and the Neighbour-
hood facing 263

[From an Old Map^ 1670)

Sketch Map of the Environs of Ragusa . . facing 272

289
299

313
325
334
340

345
349
355

Forte San Lorenzo

Garden near Ragusa .

Isola di Mezzo ....

Courtyard of the Rector's Palace

Mostar, in the Herzegovina

" iEscuLAPius " Capital, Rector's Palace .

Sculptured Impost, Rector's Palace .

Sculptured Bracket, Rector's Palace

Church of the Confraternity of the Rosary .

Triptych by Niccol6 Ragusei in the Dominican

Monastery facing 363

Giovanni Gondola facing 375 *

[From the Gaileria di Ragusei Illustri)

Torre Menze and the Walls 389

Terrace of the Ville Brava^k^, near Ragusa . . 405
Map of Dalmatia, Bosnia, and the Herzegovina facing 417
Map of the Balkan Peninsula .... facing ^1%

BNTRANCE TO

THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

THE eastern shore of the Adriatic from the Quar-
nero to the Bocche di Cattaro is a series of deep
inlets and bays, with rocky mountuns rising up
behind, while countless islands, forming a veritable archi-
pelago, follow the coastline. The country is for the
most part bare and stony. The cypress, the olive, the
vine grow on it, but never in great quantities. Patches
of juniper and other bushes are often the only relief to
the long stretches of sterile coast. Here and there more
favour«l spots appear. At Spalato and in the Canale dei
Sette Castelli, on the island of Curzola, in the environs
of Kagusa, the v^etation is luxuriant, almost tropical.
But Dalmatia is always a narrow strip, and as one pro-

2 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

ceeds southwards it becomes ever narrower, the mountain
ranges at various points coming right down to the
water's edge. The land is subject to intense heat in
summer, and is free from great cold, even in the middle
of winter. But it suffers from fierce winds, from the
hraj which, whirling down from the treeless wastes of
the Karst mountains in the north-east, sweeps along the
coastline with terrific force. Another curse from which
it suffers is the frequency and severity of the earthquakes,
which from time to time have wrought fearful havoc
among the Dalmatian towns.

But in spite of these disadvantages, ^long this shore
a Latin civilisation aroscjjid flourished which, if inferior
to that of Italy, nevertheless pjayed an important and
valuable part in European development. Many wars
were fought for the possession of Dalmatia. Roman,
Byzantine Greek, Norman, Venetian, Hungarian, Slave,
and Austrian struggled for it, and each left his impress
on its civilisation, although the influence of two among
these peoples far surpassed that of all the others — the
Roman and the Venetian.

Dalmatia has at all times been essentially a border-
land. Geographically it belongs to the eastern peninsula
of the Mediterranean, to the Balkan lands. But this
narrow strip of coast, as Professor Freeman said,^ *' has
not a little the air of a thread, a finger, a branch cast
forth from the western peninsula." In its history its
character as a mar ch land is still more noticeable, and
this feature has always been jnanifested in a series of
cbilised CfimmunitjfisJiLjyie.tow^^n a hinterland of

1 Historical Essays^ Third Series^ pp. 22, 23.

INTRODUCTION 3

KarKarniiQ r»r Q/»mi-f'|Yi|iyfi fafiP" Here were thefatiiJtiest I
Greek settlements in the Adr iatic, settlements plac ed in
the midst of a native uncivilised Illyrian population.
Here t he R omans came and . cpnqijejed,.. .hut _did^ not '
wholly abso rb, thc^ najdye_jaces.. Then the land was j
disputed between the East ern and the Wcstem Exuprss,
later betwee n . Christianity and Paganism^^ l ater still be- j
tween the E astern and Western Churches. The Slavonic , ^

invasion, while almost obliterating the native Illyrian
race, could not sweep away the Roman-Greek civilisation
of the coast. Again Dalmati a became the debating
ground be tween V eneti an and Hungarian^ the former
triumphing in the end. When Christianity found' itself
menaced by the Muhamedan invasion. Dalms^tig was the
borderland between the two faiths. A hundred years /ifoo
ago it was involved in one phase of the great struggle
between England and France. To-day, under the rule
of a Power which may be said to be all borderland, it
is the scene of another nationalist conflict between two
races. As before we still have a civilised fringe ^ a series
of tow ns, with a vast hinterland inhabited by Slaves^by a
race less civilis ed, yet w ishing to become civilised on lines
different from those of the Latin race. It is still the
bord erland between_ the Catholic and the Orthodox re- j
ligion s, and also between the two branches of the South- i
Slavonic p eople — the Croatians and the Serbs..

The Dalmatian townships had many features in their
development similar to those of the towns of Italy,
especially of the maritime republics. But, unlike their
Italian sisters, they were always on the threshold of
barbarism, and this fact imparts to their history its

_ I
I
I

4 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

peculiar character. They were essentially border for-
tresses/ keeping watch and ward to save their civilisation
from being swept into the sea by the advancing tide of
Slave and Turk.

Of all these towns, that in which this feature is most
marked is Ragusa. Ragusa*s development shows in every
way a stronger individuality than that of any other. For
three characteristics above all is this city remarkable,
characteristics which enabled it to a ttain and prcaerve
such a peculia r position in th e Adriatic. The first is its
preo graphical situation. Ragusa was, as it were, the gate
j of the East , the meeting point of Latin and Slav e^ of the
I Eastern and Western Chu rc hes, of Christian and Muha-
medan. One of the chief com mercial highwavs from the
coast to the interior had i ts ter niinya aL-JRagusa^while
the sheltered position Qf its harbouT j and of thatof the
neighbouring Gravo sa, indicated it as meant by nature
fof-Jt.. great, cpingiercial centre. ^ Here the Slaves from
the interior found their nearest market, and the nearest
spot where civilisation and culture flourished. Ragusa
was the means of spreading the beginnings of progress
among the benighted Servian lands, for with the caravans
of Western goods which made their way into the Herze-
govina, Bosnia, and Servia, Western ideas penetrated as
well, and to Ragusa came the sons of Slavonic princelings
and nobles to be educated. Here there were schools
where learned professors and famous men of letters from
Italy taught. Italy came to impart Italian culture to the
Ragusans and the Slaves.

Even to-day, when trade follows other routes, and
Ragusa, no longer a great commercial centre, is reduced

INTRODUCTION 5

to a humble position, it is still the meeting point of
many races. Italians, Bosnians, Herzegovinians, Monte-
negrins, Albanians, Turks, and Greeks throng its streets
and piazzas on market days, filling them with brilliant
costumes. Now that the railway from Mostar and
Sarajevo has reached Gravosa, there is reason to hope
that the ancient city of St. Blaize may once more become
a trading centre of some importance. The prosperity of
the hinterland which Austria-Hungary has reclaimed to
civilisation cannot fail to have a favourable effect on
Ragusa. Had not the Turkish invasion swept over the
Balkans in the fourteenth, fifteenths an d sixtcentlL-i:£Hr^ ^y
turies, Ra^usa^s position as a civilising infl uence would
have been still more considerable. Later its role changed
to that of intermediary between the Christian Powers and
the Sultan, and in its history we see reflected on a small
scale the vast struggle which convulsed Europe for four
hundred years.

The second characteristic of Ragusa is its natural ' X
position. It is one of nature's fortresses, being sur- ,
rounded by the sea on three sides^ ^nd the rocks on
which it is built drop sheer down to the water's edge. \j
It seemed indeed a suitable spot on which to er ect a city,
in days when sec urit y was jhe first, almost^ the only,
consideration. As we approach Ragusa from the south,
it stands out a mass of rocks rising up from the sea,
crowned with towers, bastions, and walls, which have
defied ages of storm and stress, still imposing, still
beautiful.

A third feature intimately connected with the last
is Ragusa's character as a haven of refug e. While all

— V

6 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

around there was chaos and strife, at Ragusa there was
peace . The original inhabitants had fled from the ruins
of Epidaurum and Salona, and fortified themselves here ;
subsequently other refugees from all parts of the coujitry
1 helped to inc rease the^ population, for the Jiospitalitj^f
i Its walls was denied to none. THe Ragusans were ever
ready, as they proved many a time, to undergo any risk
rather than give up those who had placed themselves
under the protection of the rock-built city. Even in
recent times Ragusa remained true to its past ; when in
1876-77 there was revolution in the Herzegovina, and
the savage Turkish soldiery were at their accustomed
work of massacre and torture, the luckless Christian
rayahs found shelter and protection at Ragusa, as their
ancestors had done before them.

Ragusa was a small city, and its history is all on a

small scale . At b cst^she can only be regarded as a second-

class city of th e first rank. In size, wealth, and intel-

lectual and artistic development she was far inferior to

the city republ ics of Italy ; but her close proximity to a

world of barbarism, a nd the vastly important events in

which she played a jpart, however small, make it loom

I ^^rg^' Moreover, while the other republics of Dalmatia,

with the exception of the tiny Poljica, were all absorbed by

Venice, while those of Italy were a constant prey to civil

wars, and lost their freedom and even their independ-

! ence after a few centuries of chequered existence, Ragusa,

! after two hundred and fifty years of Venetian tutelage

} with internal autonomy, remained free, now under the

j nominal protection of this Power, now of that, for 450

years, actually surviving her mighty rival of the Lagoons.

INTRODUCTION 7

The beginnings of Dalmatian history are purely
legendary, and very little is known of the ethnographical
character of its original inhabitants. Wanderers from
pre-Homeric Greece are said to have settled along its
shores, followed later by the Liburnii, who had been
driven from Asia, whence part of the country was called
Liburnia by the Romans. In the seventh century B.C.
a Celtic invasion took place.^ In the fifth and fourth
centuries b.c. a number of Greek colonies were planted
among the islands at Issa (Lissa), Pharos (Lesina), and
Kerkyra Melaina (Curzola), and others along the coast
at Epidamnos (Durazzo), Epidauron (Ragusavecchia),
and Tragyrion (Trail). In the third century lUyria ^ was
welded by a native ruler into a powerful kingdom, which
ere long came into contact with the Romans. The
latter made several attempts to conquer the country, but
met with' a most stubborn resistance before they finally
subdued it. In the year 180 b.c. the Dalmatians, a
people inhabiting the middle part of modern Dalmatia,*
revolted from the Illyrian kingdom and became inde-
pendent. Their territory was comprised between the
rivers Naro (Narenta) and Titius (Kerka) ; beyond the
latter Liburnia began. During the second and first cen-

* For traces of the Celtic strain see T. Graham Jackson's Dalmatian
the Quamero, and Isiria^ vol. i. p. 2.

* The term Illyria or Illyricum comprises far more than the modem or
even Roman Dalmatia, and corresponds roughly to the whole eastern
shore of the Adriatic as far as Dyrrhachium, with a hinterland extending
to Hungary.

' Their name is connected with the town of Dalmium or Deminium,
said by some to have been in the interior, by others on the site of the
modem Almissa (formerly called Dalmisia).

8 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

turies b.c. the Romans waged no less than ten wars in
lUyria, which was not completely reduced until the
year a.d. 9.

In the meanwhile a number of Latin colonies had
been settled along the coast, supplanting those of the
Greeks. Their splendour and importance may be gauged
from the magnificent Roman remains, especially those of
the great palace built by Diocletian, himself an Illyrian,
at Spalato, and of Salona,^ the ancient capital of the
province.

Roman Dalmatia included besides the modern region
of that name the whole of Bosnia, the Herzegovina,
Montenegro, and parts of Croatia and Albania. Dio-
cletian divided it into two provinces, Dalmatia proper
to the north, and Praevalis or Praevalitana to the south.
At the time of the partition of the Roman Empire
Dalmatia was apportioned to the Western division, the
neighbouring provinces of Dardania, McEsia Superior,
and Praevalis to the Eastern. When the barbarian
hordes began to pour down into Southern Europe the
latter province remained under Roman rule until early
in the sixth century, but Dalmatia was conquered in 481
by Odovakar, and added to the Gothic kingdom of Italy.
Both these facts emphasise Dalmatia's character as an
outpost of the West in the Eastern world. But the
Slaves, the last of the barbarians to march westwards and
southwards, soon began to press ever more closely against
the- Roman settlements, and the colonists were driven
from the interior to the coast towns. From the letters

* Called the " Dalmatian Pompeii."

INTRODUCTION 9

of Pope Gregory I. we see that at his time (590-603)
Epidaurum, Salona, Doclea, and a few other Roman
cities still survived. But in 600, in a letter to the Bishop
of Salona, he expressed great sorrow that Dalmatia was
hard pressed by the barbarians. " De Sclavorum gente,
quae vobis imminet, affligor vehementer et conturbor." ^
The whole province was becoming desolate. In 535 the
Byzantine Greeks reconquered it from the Goths together
with Pannonia. In 539 it was overrun by Huns, Bul-
garians, and Slaves, liberated by Narses in 552, and
added to the Exarchate of Ravenna. Later it was made
into a separate Exarchate ; but after the death of the
Emperor Maurice the Slaves became masters of the
greater part of the country.

When the Eastern Empire was divided into themes,
the remaining fragments of the Roman colonies on the
Illyrian shore were erected into the Themes of Dalmatia
and Dyrrhachium. The former is described at length by
Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his De Administrando
Imperio^ written in 949 ; it consisted of little more
than a few cities and islands, all the rest of the land being
peopled by barbarians.

The capital of the Dalmatian theme was no longer
Salona, which together with Epidaurum had been destroyed
by the Avars in the seventh century, but Jadera or Zara.
The other towns of the theme were : Veglia, Arbe, and
Opsara (comprising Cherso and Lussino) in the Quarnero ;

* Quoted in Handehstrassen und Bergwerke von Serbien und Bosnien
wdhrend des Mittelaliers^ by Dr. C. J. JireCek, Prag, 1879, P* S*
' Cap. xxix. to xxxvi.

10 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Tragurium, Spalatum or Aspalathum, and Rhagusium,
founded by refugees from Salona and Epidaurum;
Decatera (Cattaro), Rosa (Porto Rose), and Butova
(Budua). The theme was governed by a Greek
Strategos residing at Zara (Jadertinus Prior), and by
inferior officials (dukes) in the smaller centres. But
their authority hardly extended beyond the town
walls.

The inhabitants of these cities in the themes of Dal-
matia and Dyrrhachium were the remains of the Roman
provincials from all parts of Illyria. Porphyrogenitus
calls them Romans, as distinguished from the 'Pay/uLaiot
or Byzantine Greeks. In spite of all subsequent Slavonic
incursions Latin, and later Italian, always remained the
official language ; it was also the common language of
the people all down the coast, save at Ragusa, where
Slavonic was also spoken at an early date.^ Other frag-
ments of the Roman population were to be found perhaps
among the shepherds of the mountains, who were either
Latins or Latinised descendants of the native Illyrians.
The Slaves speak of them as together with the town-
dwellers as Vlachs, which word signifies Italians or
Rumanians to this day. The townsmen described these
shepherds as Maurovlachs, i.e. "Sea Vlachs" or '* Black
Vlachs." *

The other Dalmatian towns and all the country outside
the towns were occupied, as we have said, by the Southern

* Jire^ek, op, «/., p. 4, note.

* JireCek, IViachen und Maurowlachen, They are now called
Morlacchi in Northern Dalmatia.

INTRODUCTION 1 1

Slaves. Of these the two principal tribes were the Serblii
or Serbs and the Chrobatians or Croatians. The latter
settled in the northern part of the country ; their frontiers
were the Save, the Kulpa, the Arsia, and the Cetina.
Their settlement seems to have preceded that of the
Serbs. They came from the land beyond the Carpathians,
with the name of which theirs may have been connected.
Croatia was divided into fourteen iupe or counties, each
governed by a iupan. The various iupans owed a some-
what shadowy allegiance to a Grand 2upan, whose title
was afterwards changed to that of king. The Serbs, who
issued forth from what is now Galicia, settled in the land
to the south and east of that of the Croatians, i.e. the
modern kingdom of Servia, Old Servia, Montenegro,
Northern Albania, and Dalmatia south of the Cetina.
For many centuries they recognised no central authority,
but were divided into tribes, of which the most important
were the Diocletiani or Docletiani, who occupied what
is now Montenegro and part of Albania ; the Terbuniotae,
whose country, called Terbunia or Tribunia or Travunia,
centres round the modern Trebinje, with the semi-inde-
pendent southern district of Canale or Canali ; ^ the coast
north of Ragusa up to the Narenta was occupied by the
Zachloumoi of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, and was
called Zachlumje, Zachulmia, Hlum, or Chelmo. It cor-
responds to the Herzegovina.^ About the Narenta was
the land of the Narentani (the ^Apevravoi or Uayavot of
Porphyrogenitus), notorious for their piratical exploits.

* Jireiek, Handelssirassen^ pp. 22-25.
' Ibid.^ pp. 25-27.

12 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

This tribe was converted to Christianity much later than
the other Serbs, whence their name of Pagani. Inland
was Bosnia, inhabited by various tribes. Still deeper in
the interior was the territory of the Serbs proper.^

Thus by the eighth century we have a series of coast
towns and a few islands peopled by Latins still under the
rule of the Eastern Roman Empire set in the midst of
a country whose inhabitants, if we except the Latin or
Latinised shepherds, were all Slaves. Imperial influence
over these townships gradually declined, and at an early
date they constituted themselves into city-states of the
Italian type.^ As they grew rich and powerful they
acquired territory, developed their trade, both sea-borne
and with the interior, until they were finally absorbed by
the Venetian Republic. Their conditions are, therefore,
in many respects similar to those prevailing in the mari-
time republics of Italy during this period. In Italy
there was a Latin civilisation, overwhelmed by hordes of
pagan or partly pagan barbarians. Italy, like Dalmatia,
is reclaimed to Latin culture by Greek arms, and the
Greeks rule over it, although constantly fighting the
armies of the invaders with varying success. There, too,
city-communities arise on or near the sites of Roman
cities, modelling their institutions and their laws on
those of Rome, with certain modifications due to bar-
barian influences. But here the parallel ends. In Italy
the barbarian hordes never settled in such large numbers

* Jirefek, Handelssirassen^ pp. 27-35.

' Their municipal statutes, some of which have been published,
present many analogies with those of Italy.

INTRODUCTION 13

as wholly to absorb the Latins, whereas the Slaves in
Dalmatia far outnumbered the colonists, and, save for
the Latin fringe, the land soon became a Slavonic land.
Whereas in Italy, Latins and barbarians soon amal-
gamated — in fact, one may say that the former absorbed
the latter — in Dalmatia, Latins and Slaves have remained
distinct and separate to this day, in language, character,
and ideals. The Latin cities were like islands in a
Slavonic sea. The relations between the Latins and
the barbarians in Italy, even before they amalgamated,
were different from what they were in Dalmatia. In
Italy the feudal system arose among the Germanic
peoples, and Germanic lords had Latin subjects and
serfs, whereas the Slavonic chieftains of Dalmatia had
no Latin dependents to speak of. The causes of this
division of race and language, which exercised so deep
an influence on the history and development of the
Dalmatian municipiay are not very apparent. They are
probably to be sought in the diflFerent proportions of
barbarians to Latins in the two countries. In Italy
the number of invaders who settled permanently in the
country was never very great compared with that of
the Latin inhabitants. The conquered were, therefore,
soon able to absorb the conquerors, having civilisation
as well as numbers on their side. But in Dalmatia the
Slaves were, as we have said, far more numerous than the
Latin burghers ; and while the former could not absorb
the communities of the coast, because they were more
civilised, the latter, being so few in numbers, failed to
absorb the Slaves. It should, moreover, be remembered

14 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

that even the Latins were originally colonists from an-
other land, and that the nadve Illyrians, of whom no
trace now remains in Dalmatia, may perhaps have been
merged in the Slaves, and helped to swell their
numbers.

CHAPTER II

THE FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY
OF THE CITY (636-1204)

T XT7E have alluded to the destruction by the Avars
\\/ of Salona and Epidaurum,^ and the flight of
^ ^ their inhabitants to the new settlements. Of
Salona extensive ruins remain, but with regard to the
site of Epidaurum there is a division of opinion among
archaeologists. It is generally held that the remains at
or near the village of Ragusavecchia, a few miles to the
south-east of Ragusa, are those of the ancient Epidaurum.
In the neighbouring valley of Canali (Slavonic, Konavli)
there are the ruins of a Roman aqueduct. The name
Ragusavecchia corroborates the tradition that it was the
original home of the Ragusans ; while its Slavonic name,
Cavtaty is undoubtedly derived from the Latin civifas.
Some archaeologists, however, have doubts as to this
point, and Professor Giuseppe Gelcich, than whom no
greater authority on Dalmatian history exists, is of
opinion that Epidaurum must be sought for somewhere
on the Sutorina promontory in the Bocche di Cattaro.
Fragments of Roman brickwork and mosaic pavement
have been found there too ; and according to Professor
Gelcich, the Gmali aqueduct is so built that it must have

^ This form is preferred by Professor Jirttek tQ Fpidaunis.

1 6 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

served a city farther south than Ragusavecchia. On
the other hand, the statements of the classical writers,
especially of Pliny, seem to bear out the general opinion,
which is, in fact, based on them.

The exact date of the incursion of the Avars and of
the destruction of Epidaurum has also been the sub-
ject of controversy. According to some writers, among
whom are the native historians of Ragusa, the city was
destroyed by the Goths in the third century a.d. But
documents written between the third and the seventh
centuries mention it as still existing. Constantine
Porphyrogenitus speaks of Ragusa as having been
founded by refugees from Salona five hundred years before
his own time, i.e. about 449.^ But Pope Gregory I. is
the last writer who alludes to Epidaurum, so that it was
evidently not destroyed before 603. The geographer of
Ravenna, who flourished in the eighth century, is the
first to mention Ragusa. The Avars made their first
appearance in Dalmatia in the year 597-598.^ They
belonged to the same Tartar group as the Huns, and
their path was marked with the same ruin and destruction.
At one time they were in the service of Justinian, but
under his successors they became so powerful and insolent
that the Greek emperors might almost be regarded as
the vassals to the Chagan of the Avars. In 597 they
raided Dalmatia and destroyed over forty towns ; and
during the next thirty years they conquered the whole

1 *A0* 00 U dwb ZoXcSra fUTifxricap tls *'Pao6etotf, elalp irrj 0' (500) m6cP< ^V*
ci/jfupo¥, ffrtf IpiucTiuifos ipS6fi7i9 Irovt ,S'vp^{64$7 A.M. = 949 A.D.)* -D^ A dm.
/mp.f cap. xxix.

• §afaHk, Slawische Alterthiimery ii. 238 ; J. B. Bury, " History of
the Later RoiPan Empire,'' vol. ii. Book IV. Part II. chap. iv.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 17

country, with the exception of some of the coast settle-
ments, unimpeded by the Greeks^jgho were then occupied /
with the Saracens. In 619 thev ugStroved Salona. whose
inhabitants, or at least such of them as escaped from t he
fur^of the barbarians ^ for the most part t ook refuge in
the walls of Diocl etian's palace at Spa l^to^ . -Ai t a few . y
wandered southwards and esublishcd th^mad^YCS-JMi^lIL
island r pcJs;^ where Ragusa nqy gja nds. _ ^bout the year
6^6 the Avars swept down Qii.Epidaurum.and razed it
to the grou n d, the surviving : inhabitants jflvinp^ tn Rap^wsa.
This year is gen eral ly acce pted a s the date of the city'-s _
birth. A n all probability, however, it was not founded
at any definite period, but arose gradually through the
influx of refugees from all parts of Southern Dalmatia,
from a fishing village into a town. The original settl eg
yere nearly all T.atins^ gnd it was not until later that a
certain, number of Slaves. lEcre.iulmiUcd.^

The traditional origin of the name Ragusa is con-
nected with the situation of the town on a precipitous
ridge. According to Porphyrogenitus, it is derived
from Xai;, a precipice, and was originally Lausa. The
L changed to R, and it became Rausa or Rhausion.

^ Constantine Porphyrogenitus says that the Slaves (whom he mixed
up with the Avars) had destroyed r6 Kdarpov Tllravpai the inhabitants being
mostly killed or captured. The survivors fled, and on an inaccessible
rock founded the new city of'FaoOaiop. In a Slavonic document quoted
by Jireiek (^. r//., p. 9, note 20) there is a native account of the founda-
tion of Ragusa. The ancient Ragusa, it says, stood rta Captate (at
Cavtat), and possessed the whole iupa of Canali ; when the city fell and
was destroyed, " the lords of Chum and Rascia " occupied this iupa^ and
the inhabitants of the city took refuge on a strong place, where they
founded the modern Ragusa. These are other more or less legendary
accounts.

€6^^ ^ -^

iv^

t •

THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

According to Professor Jire&k/ this derivation is quite
inaccurate. The rocky seaward ridge, even in the th'u"-
teenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, were called
Lahe or Laue^ from the Latin word lahes^ a downfall or
precipice. The form Ragusa is found in William of
Tyre, and in the Arabic writer Edrisi (i 153). Later we
find the form Rausa^ and in the fifteenth century Raugia^
and occasionally Ragusium. The Slavonic name Dubrovnik
is said to be derived from duhrava^ a wood. This etymo-
logy does not sound unlikely, as there is a wood in close
proximity to the town, a rarity in this part of the world.
But Professor Jire&k says that from Dubrava the original
form should have been Dubravnik^ and this appears no-
where. The Presbyter Diocleas writes : " Dubrounich,
id est Silvester sive silvestris, quoniam quando eam aedifi-
caverunt, de silva venerunt." Whatever may be the
philological value of these traditions, they indicate the
double character {i.e. Latin and Slavonic) of Ragusa in
the early, if not in the earliest times.

Ragusa is situated on the coast of Southern Dalmatia,
about forty kilometres to the north-west of the Bocche
di Cattaro.^ It is built partly on a precipitous rocky
ridge jutting out into the Adriatic, and partly on the
mainland, ascending the steep slopes of the Monte Sergio.
The original town was limited to the seaward ridge,
which was formerly an island divided from the main-
land by a marshy channel where the Stradone now runs.
There was also a settlement of Bosnians or Vlachs on

' op. cit.^ p. 10.

^ A deep inlet surrounded by high mountains at the extreme south of
modern Dalmatia.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 19

the Monte Sergio opposite. The ridge slopes gradually I
up from the channel, but drops sheer down on the side ^
towards the sea. In an old drawing preserved in the
library of the Franciscan monastery at Ragusa we see
the town as it was when it only occupied the ridge. It
is surrounded by a wall, and divided into two parts by
another wall. Three extensions of the walls are re-
corded previous to the beginning of the twelfth century,
rendered necessary by the number of fugitives who took
refuge within its walls in ever-increasing numbers. " The
original city," writes Professor Gelcich, " was limited to
the centre of the northern slope of the ridge now called
Santa Maria, which, separating from the Monte Sergio,
stretches forth in an opposite direction to that of the
neighbouring peninsula of Lapad ; it comprised the
quarter of the town between the diocesan seminary and
the street leading from the Chiesa del Domino to the
summit of the ridge." ^ The earliest extensions were the
suburbs of GariSte and Pustijerna, the former on the
western side, the latter to the east, reaching as far as the
harbour. Thus the whole rock was occupied and sur-
rounded by a wall. The channel which divided it from
the mainland soon became a marshy field, and finally
dried up. As a protection against the Slavonic settle-
ment on the Monte Sergio a castle was built by the sea,
on the site of the present rector's palace, guarding the
bridge to the mainland.^ Later the Bosnian colony was
also absorbed, and the town walls were extended to the
circuit which they now occupy.

^ Gelcich, Dello Sviluppo Civile di Ragusa^ p. 6.

' The castle and bridge are both indicated in the drawing.

20 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Of the various groups of refugees who settled within
the hospitable walls of Ragusa we have fairly reliable
accounts. Porphyrogenitus mentions the earliest of
these immigrations, and also gives us the names of the
most prominent among the newcomers : Arsaphios,
Gregorios, Victorinos, Vitalios, Valentinos the arch-
deacon, and Valentinos the father of the Protospathar
Stephen. All these have unquestionably a Latin sound ;
they were probably Roman provincials from the minor
Dalmatian townships destroyed by the barbarians. Be-
sides the Latin refugees, at an early date a certain
number of Slaves, who preferred the quiet life and
safety of Ragusa to the constant turmoils and disorders
among their own people, added to the population. The
Anonymous Chronicle of Ragusa^ describes several of
these immigrations : —

" 690. Many people came to Ragusa with all their
goods from Albania and the parts of Bosna, because
many in Bosna were partisans of Duchagini,' and wished
to save themselves from being accused (punished).**

This evidently refers to a civil war, but the date
given is much too early : it is not likely that the Ragusans
would have admitted barbarians within their walls so
soon after the destruction of Epidaurum : —

"691. There came to Ragusa the men of two castles
on the mainland, from Chastel Spilan and Chastel
Gradaz,' and they all made their dwellings on the

^ Published by the South-Slavonic Academy of Agram in the same
volume as Ragnina's chronicle. A small part of it is quoted by Gelcich,
op. dt.

' There is an Albanian tribe of the name of Dukadjin, south of Scutari.

• They have not been identified.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 21

coast, for they were of the race of Epidaurum destroyed
by the Saracens/* ^

This obviously refers to the Latin colonists mentioned
by the Imperial historian : —

"743. Many people came from Bosna with much
wealth, for the king, Radosav, was a tyrant, and lived
according to his pleasure : Murlacchi from the Narenta
also came, and Catunari,* among whom there was a chief
above all the others ; they came with a great multitude
of cattle of all sorts : to them was assigned the mountain
of Saint Serge as a pasture, for it was so covered with
trees that one could not see the sky, and so much timber
was there that they made beams for their houses."

Of the first two centuries of Ragusan history little is
known. The town, like the other Latin communities of
Dalmatia, at first formed part of the Eastern Empire.
Heraclius had abandoned all the rest of the country to
the Slaves, and even in the coast towns Imperial authority
was becoming ever more shadowy. Under Michael II
Balbus they were granted what practically amounted to
autonomy, and they constituted themselves, as we have
said, into municipia of the Italian type, while inland
Dalmatia became part of Charlemagne^s Empire (803),
to whom also some of the coast towns, including Zara,
owed allegiance.' Ragusa, although still small, was

* In several early accounts it is said that the Saracens helped the
Avars to destroy the city by attacking from the sea, but there is no
satisfactory evidence on the subject.

' Head of a farm ; katun in modem Croatian signifies dairy ; it is a
neo-Latin word.

' Venice, whose connection with the Eastern Empire was somewhat
similar to that of the Dalmatian cities, now recognised Charlemagne's

22 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

increasing. At that time, with a world of barbarism all
round, with everlasting wars between the various Slavonic
tribes of the interior, there was indeed an opening for
such a haven of refuge as this city offered.

We can picture it to ourselves a^ a small settlement
where all that was civilised in Southern Dalmatia con-
gregated — the scattered Latins from ruined townships
and the more progressive Slaves. It was a beacon in
the darkness, a spot where the peaceful and the indus-
trious might pursue their avocations in safety. Of the
internal constitution of the community in these early
days, of its laws and customs, we have the meagrest
information. The only account of them which we
possess is that given in the Anonymous Chronicle, a
not very reliable document of a much later date than the
events recorded. The chief passage on the subject is as
follows : —

^' In Ragusa a division of all the people was made.
. . . Those who were the richest were (appointed) chiefs
and governors. . . . Each family had its own saint, some
San Sergio, some this saint, some that. . . . And when
men had come from Lower Vulasi ( Wallachia),^ a division
of the citizens was made, each class for itself. Many
Wallachians were rich in possessions — gold, silver, cattle,
and other things: among them were many Chatunariy
each of whom considered himself a count, and had

supremacy. There was a Byzantine and a Frankish Action. See
T. Hodgkin's '* Italy and her Invaders," viii. p. 231 ; also H. Brown's
«* Venice."

' The passage reads " de ogni Vulasi," from every Vulasi, but the
emendation '* de donji Vulasi/' from Lower Vulasi or Wallachia {donji
is Slavonic for lowerX is suggested.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 23

his own Naredbenizi (stewards). One was master of
the horse, another looked after the cattle, another after
the sheep and goats, another managed the household,
another commanded the servants. But there was one
chief above all the others, called the Grand Chatunar.
. . . These Chatunari formed the Sboro (Council or
Parliament), and for their convenience divided the
population into three parts : the first was of gentlemen ,
the second of burghers, the third of serfs. Many serfs
had come from Wallachia with cattle, and it seemed to
them a mean thing to be called even as the shepherds.^
Some attended to the house, some to the horses, some
to the person of their master, but the latter were few in
number. The third part was of gentlemen ; for at the
beginning there were many who had fled from Bosna and
Albania, and who were not men of low condition, but of
much account, having been captains or counts or Nared-
benizi^ and these were of noble origin. . . . Those who
were gentlemen were made governors of the land or
were given other oflices, and they alone entered the
Sboro or General Council. The other part was of the
people, populani^ from pol vilani^ or half villeins,* for
although those villeins were of low condition, some were
in the houses of gentlemen as guardians, and therefore
enjoyed benefits."

This account is somewhat confused and diflicult to
understand. As far as we can make out, the people
were divided into three classes ; i.e. the nobles, who
alone formed the Grand Council, and were either the de-

^ In Southern Dalmatia the word Morlacco is still a term of contempt.
' This etymology is obviously impossible.

24 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

scendants of the original Latin refugees from Epidaurum
and Salona, or those among the newcomers who were
of noble birth ; the middle class, consisting of non-noble
burghers, the stewards, and chief retainers of the nobles,
and the men of small property ; the third class, which
was composed of serfs and of the poorest citizens.
Over the general assembly presided the head of the
State, the Byzantine Duke, Prior, or Praeses. After
Ragusa had made submission to Venice in 998 we find
Venetian counts instead/ During the intervals when
the city was independent, and no foreign rulers were
appointed, the head of the Government was chosen by
the Council, as it was in after times. But even when
sent from Venice or Constantinople he does not seem
to have exercised much direct influence on the internal
affairs of the Republic.

Besides the Count and the General Council, there
was the assembly of the people, or lauJo populi^ to
whom the decisions of the Council in all the more
important cases had to be submitted. Lampredius,
prsses of Ragusa in 1023, sanctioned a decree '^una
cum omnibus ejusdem civitatis nobilibus," "temporibus
Sanctorum Imperatorum Basilii et Constantini." Pctrus
Slabba, prior in 1044, issued another decree, '* temporibus
piissimi Augusti Constantini scilicet Monomacho . . .
cum parited nobiles atque ignobiles."^ Thus we have
the aristocratic principle represented by the council of
nobles, and the democratic principle by the assembly
of the people, who were summoned " cum sonitu cam-

* The first of these was Otho Ursus or Ottone Orseolo.

* Quoted by Gelcich, op, cit,^ p. 9.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 25

pane."^ As the constitution evolved, the laudo populi
gradually dropped into disuse, and Ragusa finally de-
veloped into a purely aristocratic community on Venetian
lines.

Next in authority to the head of the State was the
bishop,'' by whom the acts of the Government had to
be countersigned. The question as to who should
appoint this dignitary was frequently a subject of dispute
between the Ragusans and the Venetians, on account of
his political influence.

The Ragusans provided for the defence of their
city by surrounding it with walls, " un muro di masiera
e travi," ' as Ragnina says, and these fortifications stood
them in good stead by enabling them to hold out against
the Saracens, who in 847-848 besieged Ragusa for fifteen
months. The citizens implored help from the Emperor
Basil the Macedonian, and he at once sent a fleet, under
Nicephorus, which relieved the beleaguered city from the
raiders.*

The Greek Emperors wished to pursue the Saracens
into Apulia, where they had established themselves,
and the rendezvous for one part of the expedition was

^ In the Italian city-republics, besides the head of the State^ the
Council of nobles, and the assembly of the people, there was also a
minor or privy council of special advisers. It is very probable that
there was something of the kind at Ragusa even at this time, as there
was later.

' Afterwards the archbishop.

' " A wall of rubble and beams."

* Const. Porgh.y cap. xxx. According to tradition, Ragusa had been
delivered from the Saracens in 783 by Orlando, or Roland the Paladin.
The legend probably has its origin in a confusion between Charlemagne's
suzerainty over Dalmatia and the Saracen siege of Ragusa in 847.
The so called statue of Orlando at Ragusa is of the fifteenth century.

26 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Ragusa. A large force of Serbs and Croatians in the
pay of the Empire congregated there, and were trans-
ported to the Italian shore on Ragusan ships. The
expedition was successful, Bari being recaptured, and
the Saracen power in Southern Italy broken.^ This is
the first mention we have of Ragusan shipping, which
was afterwards to play so large a part in the history of
the Levant trade.

Of all the Slavonic tribes settled in Dalmatia, the
most lawless and uncivilised were the Narcntans, the
Arentani or Porphyrogenitus. This hardy race of
mariners occupied the land about the mouth of the
Narenta * and the coast,^ between that river and the
Cetina, besides the islands of Brazza, Lesina, Curzola,
Lissa, Meleda, and Lagosta. Connected by racial ties
with the Serbs and the Croatians, they obeyed the laws
of neither. The ancient lUyrians were famous for their
piracy, which first called the attention of the Romans to
the country, and the Narentans proved worthy successors
of the aborigines. The conformation of the coast with
its numerous inlets, well-sheltered harbours, safe refuges,
and countless islands lends itself to this species of occu-
pation. The Narentans ravaged the coast towns of
Dalmatia with their swift galleys, plundered peaceful
merchantmen, and so harried Venetian trade that the
Republic was forced to pay them blackmail for a hundred
and fifty years. On more than one occasion it sent its
fleets to attempt their subjugation, at first with but little

1 Const. Porgh., cap. xxx.

* The Naro of the ancients.

' Primorije in Slavonic, napadoKdaffia,

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 27

success. At the beginning of these wars Ragusa was a
friendly harbour for the Venetian galleys, their most
southern port of call in the Adriatic, where they could
revictual and their crews rest from the fatigues of the
voyage.^ But the Ragusans very soon began to look
askance at the Venetians as a possible danger to their own
independence, and adopted the practice of secretly, or
even openly, supporting the pirates against the Venetians.
This naturally caused trouble later when the Venetians
were strong enough to act energetically against the
Narentans : it affords a curious insight into the policy
of the Ragusans, who, while anxious to preserve their
own civilisation and culture, were never averse to
siding with barbarians, whether they were Narentans
or Turks, against Christian Powers, especially against
Venice.

As early as the reign of the Doge Giovanni Particiaco I.
(829-836) the pirates of the Narenta had begun to seize
Venetian galleys, and his successor, Pietro Tradonico
(836-864), sent two punitive expeditions against them
without definite result. After the Venetian fleet had
been defeated by the Saracens, the Dalmatian corsairs
were audacious enough to make a raid on the Lagoons.
In 887 the Doge Pietro Candiano I. sent a first un-
successful expedition against them, and a few months
later led a second himself. This too was defeated, and
the Doge killed. Probably there was another in 948
under Pietro Candiano III., and this time operations
were directed against Ragusa itself, if we are to believe
the native historians, the town being saved only through

^ Gelcich, op, city p. 2.

28 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the special intercession of San Biagio/ who henceforth
became the patron of Ragusa in the place of San
Bacco.'

In the course of the tenth century Ragusa was again
besieged by barbarians — they were Bulgarians this time,
under the Tsar Simeon (not Samuel, as had been stated),
who invaded the western provinces of the Eastern
Empire. According to Cedren, his attack on Ragusa
failed,* whereas the Presbyter of Doclea writes that the
town was burnt. ---

>/ It was during th is same^century that Ragusa first

began to acquire territo rial _Ba§§g§slQns> The account of
the manner of these acquisitions is in part legendary;
but, according to Prof. Gelcich, it has some substratum
of fact. Paulimir Belo or Belus, King of Rascia,* having

^ Serafino Razzi, in his Storia di Raugia^ gives a long account of
this miracle (cap. x.). The Venetian fleet designed to capture Ragusa
by treachery, but the plot was revealed to a priest, who thus relates his
vision : *' I was in the church of St. Stephen about midnight, at prayer^
when methinks I saw the whole fane filled with armed men. And in the
midst I saw an old man with a long white beard holding a staff in his
hand. Having called me aside, he told me that he was San Biagio, and
had been sent by Heaven to defend this city. He told me further that
the Venetians had come up to the walls to scale them, using the masts
of their ships as ladders, but he, with a company of heavenly soldiers,
had driven back the enemy ; but he desired that in future the Ragusans
should defend themselves, and never trust armed neighbours." Ragnina
dates the event 971.

' San Bacco had been patron of the Latin settlement on the rocky
ridge, while the Slavonic colony had been under the protection of the
Eastern Saint Serge. When the two settlements amalgamated, as neither
would accept the saint of the other, they compromised by adopting San
Biagio.

' Cedrenus, vol. i., § 1019, in Migne, vol. 121.

^ The name Rascia is generally used by old historians as synony-
mous for Servia, and is derived from the river RaSka in Old Servia.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 29

been deposed and exiled, took refuge in Rome, and
married a Roman lady. In 950 he returned to Illyria,
and landed at Gravosa, near Ragusa, with a large suite
of Roman nobles. The Ragusans received him with
great honours, and he in return helped them to enlarge
their city, and sent a number of his followers, including
some Romans, to increase the population. After this
he returned to Rascia and regained his throne. As
Prof. Gelcich observes, Rome is evidently a mistake
for Rama, a country which forms part of the Herze-
govina, and takes its name from a small river tributary
to the Narenta. A few years later Stephen, Banus of (>/
tosnia, and his wife, Margaret, came to Ragusa in order
to fulfil a vow which the former had made to St.
Stephen when his wife was ill, that he would visit the
saint's church in the city if she recovered. As a rew ard
for the welcome accorded to him by the citizens he gave I
jhem the districts of Breno^ Bergato (Brgat^ Ombla,
favosa, Malfi, and part of Gionchetto.

Nearly fifty years had passed since the last Venetian
expedition to Dalmatia ; but when the great Doge Pietro
Orseolo came to the throne in 991, he determined to put
an end to the depredations of the Narentans once for all.
The annual tribute which the Venetians had been forced
to pay to the freebooters only secured a very imperfect
immunity, and the Adriatic trade was never really safe.
Orseolo suspended the tribute, and as the Narentans
at once recommenced their molestations, an expedition
under Badoer was sent out which destroyed the town
of Lissa. The Venetian admiral took a great many
prisoners, but failed to attack the pirates* chief strong-

t ^

30 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

hold at Lagosta and the Narenta*s mouth. They
retaliated on the Latin towns of the coast, and the
latter, unable to obtain help from their natural pro-
tector, the Greek Emperor, placed themselves under
the suzerainty of the Venetians, whom they implored
to intervene once more. The Croatians, to whom the
towns in the northern and central parts of the country
had paid tribute, now declared war on all who obeyed
the Venetians, ravaged the territory of Zara, and attacked
the islands of the Quarnero. The Ragusans were then
tributary to the Serbs, by whom they were surrounded,
and fearing the Narentans, who were so close at hand,
separated their cause from that of the rest of Latin
Dalmatia, and maintained an ambiguous attitude.^ The
Croatians, not content with terrorising the towns, sent
ambassadors to Venice to demand the tribute ; but the
Doge replied : " Non per quemlibet nuntiorum tributum
remittere euro; sed ad banc persolvendam dationem
venire ipso non denegabo.*' He at once fitted out
another expedition on a large scale, which set forth
under his command on May 9, 1000.* It reached
Ossero on June 5, and the Doge claimed the homage
of the Dalmatians as their protector ; this was paid both
by the Latins and by a number of the Slaves. He then

* Num Ragusini ab omni jure Veneto a saec . X usque ad saec , XIV
immunes fuerunt^ thesis by the Abb6 Paul Pisani, Paris, 1893, cap. ii.

' According to Johannes Diaconus, the expedition started in the
seventh year of Orseolo's reign, which would be the year 998 ; but
Monticolo, who edits that writer in his Cronache Antichissime (p. 156,
note i), observes that Diaconus says that he only heard the news of the
victory when the Emperor Otho III. came to Pavia in his third descent
into Italy, ue. July 1000.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 31

proceeded to Zara, which recognised his authority, and
the bishops of Arbe and Veglia came to swear fealty
to him, promising that his praises should be sung in
the churches after those of the Emperor. Negotiations
with the Narentans were now opened ; the pirates agreed
to forego all tributes, and swore to infest the Adriatic
no longer ; but the moment the Doge's back was turned
they recommenced their depredations. Orseolo then
sailed with the fleet for Beograd ^ (Zaravecchia), the
residence of the Croatian king. The terrified inhabi-
tants paid him homage, and he prepared to strike a
decisive blow at the Narentans. He sailed down the
coast and received the submission of Trau and Spalato,
and on hearing that forty Narentan " nobles " (pirate
captains) were returning from Apulia, some of his
galleys lay in wait for them, and captured them ofl^ the
island of Cazza. The Narentans then sued for peace,
which was granted them on a promise of future good
behaviour, and all the prisoners were liberated save six,
who were retained as hostages. The pirates on the
islands of Curzola, Lesina, and Lagosta still held out.
The first two were easily captured, but the Lagostans,
hearing that the Doge meant to raze their stronghold
to the ground, made a desperate resistance. The
Venetians and their Dalmatian allies attacked the town,
poured in through a breach in the walls, and put all
the inhabitants to the sword. After the capture of
this important fortress the power of the Narentans was

* The name Beograd or Belgrad, />. white city, is a very common
one in Slavonic lands.

32 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

broken, and the whole of Dalmatia lay at Orseolo's
feet.

With regard to the subsequent proceedings and the
dedition of Ragusa there is considerable divergence of
opinion between Venetian and Ragusan writers. The
latter wish to prove that their city remained independent,
at all events until the beginning of the thirteenth century,
whereas the Venetians affirm that in 998 (1000) Ragusa
made full submission to Venice.

The first account of this dedition is that of Johannes
Diaconus, who writes : " This (the capture of Lesina,
Curzola, and Lagosta) having been accomplished, the
victorious prince repaired to the church of St. Maximus ;
there the Archbishop of Ragusa and his suite came and
did great homage to the said prince, all partaking of the
sacrament." Dandolo uses almost identical language,
and Sabellico adds that the Archbishop and the Ragusan
envoys made formal submission to the Doge and the
Venetians,^ and that counts were appointed to govern
the Dalmatian towns, Ottone Orseolo being chosen for
Ragusa. To this a Ragusan writer, calling himself
"Albinus Esadastes dc Vargas" (whom Pisani declares
to be Sebastiano Dolci,^ a Ragusan monk of the seven-
teenth century)^ in a work entitled Libertas perpetua
reip, Ragusine ab omni jure Venete reipub^ replies that
the church of St. Maximus must mean that of Masline

' "Seque suosque Orseolo Venetoque nomini dedunt." Sabellico,
Historia rerum Venetarum^ Dec. I. lib. iv. cap. 3.

' This pseudonym is an anagram for Sebastianus Slade de Ragusa ;
Slade is Slavonic for sweets =</£?/^'.

* MS. in the Museo Correr at Venice, quoted by Pisani, i>p, cit,^
introd. There is a copy at Zara and one at Ragusa.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 33

at Lesina, and that this island is so far that the Ragusan
envoys would hardly have come there to tender their
submission. Jadesta, which is also alluded to, does not
exist. The Ragusans, who had resisted other attacks,
both by the Venetians and the Saracens, so valiantly,
would not have surrendered now without striking a
blow; and, moreover, the Greek Emperors, Basil and
Constantine, would not have authorised the submission.
With regard to the first and third objections, it is most
probable that when the fate of Lagosta had become
known to the Ragusans they would have gone to tender
their submission to Orseolo wherever he happened to be.
Jadesta is simply an old name for Lagosta. As for the
Greek Emperors, they were far too much occupied in
holding their own against the Bulgarians to be able to
make any objections. The former attacks on Ragusa
had all been on a small scale, whereas this expedition was
a large and well-equipped force, against which it would
have been madness for the tiny Ragusa to resist. Then
**Esadastes" shifts his ground, and asserts that the
envoys went to the Doge merely to reclaim a ship cap-
tured by the Venetians, and that they actually threatened
reprisals on the part of the Emperors if satisfaction were
refused. But it is most unlikely that for so trifling a
cause the Archbishop and chief citizens would have been
sent to the Doge. This version, however, is accepted
by Mauro Orbini.^ Ragnina does not even mention the
expedition. Resti^ says that Ottone Orseolo was sent
to Ragusa merely to make a commercial treaty ; but as

* Regno degii SUnn,

' Chronica RaguHna^ edit South-Slav. Acad., p. 272.

34 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Pisani observes, if the magistrates appointed to the other
Dalmatian towns were sent to govern them, there is no
reason to suppose that an exception was made for Ragusa.
There is, on the whole, the strongest evidence that Ragusa
did actually submit to Venetian supremacy, together with
the other coast towns, in looo, and received a Venetian
governor. Local usages and laws, however, were re-
spected, according to the Venetian practice of the time ;
nor was Imperial authority wholly disregarded, and
prayers for the Emperor continued to be sung in the
churches of Ragusa.

Venetian rule was not of long duration. On the
death of Pietro Orseolo in 1008, his son Ottone became
Doge ; and during this reign a strong opposition to the
house of Orseolo was aroused, which ended with Ottone's
expulsion in 1026. During the reign of his successor,
Pietro Centranico, faction feuds broke out, greatly
weakening the Republic, and the Dalmatian towns re-
volted, as Venetian suzerainty was of use to them only
so long as Venice was powerful. Some of them went
over to Dobroslav, prince of the Tribunian Serbs, and
elsewhere Byzantine authority revived. Thus in 1036,
instead of a Venetian count at Zara, we find Gregory,
Jadcrtinus Prior, Pro-consul and Imperial Strategos for
all Dalmatia.^ But his authority was disputed by the
Croatians, whose sovereign now proclaimed himself King
of Dalmatia.* Against this act the Venetians issued a
protest, and the Doge Domenico Contarini (i 043-1 071)
reasserted the authority of the Republic.

* Prospetto Cronologico delta Dalmasia, p. 112.

' This title is now borne by the Emperor of Austria.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 35

In the year 107 1 the Normans from Apulia made
their first appearance in Dalmatia; they crossed the
Adriatic, and threatened the Eastern Empire. The
Emperor Alexius Comnenus having implored the help
of the Venetians, the Doge Selvo set sail for Dyrrhachium
in command of a fleet. Alexius had also asked help of
the Ragusans, who were now practically independent ;
but they feared the Normans more, and cast in their lot
with them. The Grseco- Venetian fleet encountered the
Normans ofl^ Dyrrhachium ; but in spite of the valour
displayed by the allies they were defeated, and the town
fell into the enemies' hands. It is said that the Ragusan
contingent distinguished itself by hurling clouds of arrows,
which wrought much havoc among the Venetians.^ As
a reward they obtained important commercial privileges
in Southern Italy. In 1085 the Venetians again attacked
the Normans, and partially defeated them at Corfu, for
which action Alexius granted the Doge Vitale Falier the
Golden Bull, conferring upon him the title of Protose-
bastus, and created him Duke of Dalmatia and Croatia.
Thus the Republic regained all its lost influence on the
eastern shore of the Adriatic.

Yet another Power now begins to interfere in the
aflfairs of Dalmatia, a Power which was to play a most
important part in its subsequent history. In 1091
Ladislas, King of Hungary, was summoned by the Slaves
of inland Croatia, who as usual when quarrelling among
themselves called in foreign aid, and they willingly
recognised him as their king. He did not wait to be
asked a second time, but at once entered the province

^ Gelcich, op, cit,^ p. 3.

36 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

and appointed his nephew, Almus, Count of Cismontane
Croatia. On his death in 1094 he was succeeded by
another nephew, Koloman, who in the following year
crossed the Velebit mountains and invaded Maritime
Croatia. He defeated and killed the Croatian king,
KreSimir, at Petrovogora, became master of the littoral
from Istria to the Narenta, and prepared to conquer the
Serb states of Rascia and Tribunia. By marrying Busita,
daughter of King Roger, he allied himself with the
Normans, and enlisted their help for his schemes. At
Beograd he crowned himself King of Dalmatia and
Croatia. These conquests were not at all to the taste
of the Ragusans, who had every interest in the main-
tenance of a number of weak but independent Slavonic
buffer States at their back, whereas they dreaded the
advance of a powerful military monarchy like Hungary.
At first they tried to conciliate Koloman with gifts,^ but
as this availed them little they applied to their old
enemies, the Venetians ; the latter made a treaty with the
Hungarian king, by which the Latin municipalities of
Dalmatia were recognised as outside the Hungarian
sphere. But it was not respected for long. The Emperor
Alexius, annoyed with the Venetians for their action in
the First Crusade and in the Levant generally, intrigued
with Koloman, and induced him to violate his pledges.
The Magyar king needed but little pressure, as the con-
quest of the Dalmatian sea-board was one of his chief
ambitions. V7hen the Venetians sent their fleet to Pales-
tine in 1 1 05 he occupied Zara, Trau, and Spalato,
and forced the citizens to swear fealty to him. The

^ J. C. von Engel, GtschichU des Freystaates Ragusa^ § 6.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 37

Ragusans were not disturbed, but they sent him another
deputation. The Venetians, exhausted with their last
efforts in the Holy Land, were unable to do anything
for the moment.^

In 1 1 1 6 hostilities recommenced, and ended in 1 1 1 8
with the defeat of the Venetians, who agreed to a five
years* truce with Hungary. War broke out again in
1 1 24, and lasted for several years, with varying success.
Bela II., who succeeded to Koloman, while the Venetians
were occupied elsewhere, crossed the Narenta and con-
quered the Serb principalities of Tribunia, Zachulmia,
and Rama, and tried to induce the coast towns to rebel
against Venice. The Ragusans once more applied for
Venetian help, and even requested that Venetian counts
should be sent to govern them. Both requests were
granted.

Of the next twenty-eight years of Ragusan history
there is little to tell. " Esadastes " mentions the names
of four Venetian counts — Marco Dandolo, Cristiano
Pontestorto, Jacopo Doseduro or Dorsoduro, and Pietro
Molina. Resti mentions a plague in 1145, which, he
says, carried off three-quarters of the inhabitants, evidently
an exaggeration. In 1 148, according to the same writer,
the Servian Prince Dessa, ancestor of the Nemanjas,
granted the island of Meleda to three Benedictine monks,
with the provision that its civil government should be
entrusted to Ragusa. This is the most distant posses-
sion which the Republic had as yet acquired.

In 1 152 the series of Venetian counts came to an

^ Between 1096 and 1 105 they had put three hundred ships on the
sea (Horatio Brown, Venice^ p. 87).

38 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

end/ the last of them having apparently received notice
to quit from the Ragusans themselves, who sent him
home in one of their own galleys, with many gifts, as a
reward, "Esasdastes" says ironically, for having ruled
the city so well for thirty years ; but he adds the follow-
ing extract from an early chronicle : —

" These counts had begun to tyrannise, and, moreover,
Ragusa being at war with the Bosnians, five hundred
soldiers who had come from Venice to aid us outraged
©ur women and committed countless robberies. To free
the city from them the Council ordered them to be so
placed in the van of the army that they should all be
killed. This stratagem having succeeded, they sent the
Venetian rector back to Venice."

Whether this story be true or not, it is characteristic
both of the customs of the time and of the feelings with
which the Ragusans ever regarded the Venetians. For
the latter and their government no native historian ever
has a good word to say.

The reason why the Venetians submitted so tamely
to being turned out of Ragusa lies in the general situa-
tion of aflfairs in Dalmatia. In 1148 Venice had formed
an alliance with the Emperor Manuel Comnenus against
the Normans, whose incursions in the Adriatic consti-
tuted a menace for both Powers; but Venetians and
Greeks were on the worst of terms, and at the siege of
Corfu the Emperor's name had been grossly insulted.
Manuel vowed vengeance on his allies, an4 sent emissaries
to stir up the Dalmatians against Venice. The latter
was at war on the mainland with Hungary and in Syria,

' Serafino Razzi, Storia di Raugia,

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 39

and therefore found it expedient to ignore the Dalmatian
question for the time being. Venetian authority, how-
ever, did not cease altogether even at Ragusa, where
Venetians continued to be appointed as archbishops.
Thus in 11 50 or 1151 the dignity was conferred on a
certain Domenico of Venice, and in 1153 on another
Venetian named Tribuno; the latter in 1155 made
formal submission to the Patriarch of Grado, with the
consent of the clergy and people of Ragusa.^ The town /
continued, in fact, to be regarded as one of those under j
Venetian protection, or, at least, as friendly to the Re- I
public of the lagoons. *

In 1 1 69 Manuel Comnenus determined to conquer
Dalmatia, and even Italy. He sent a squadron up the
Adriatic to molest Venetian shipping, and encouraged
corsairs to do the same. The Imperial fleet occupied the
towns protected by Venice, treating them as conquered
territory. Ragusa too was occupied, and was doubtless not
unwilling to get rid of all Venetian authority ; the Imperial
standard was raised on a tower expressly built for the
purpose. On March 7, 1 171, the Emperor had all the
Venetians at Constantinople arrested and their property
seized. Venice immediately declared war, and, in spite
of the scarcity of men and money, a fleet of one hundred
and twenty ships, to which ten Dalmatian galleys were
added, was fitted out in a hundred days.* It set sail
in September under the command of the Doge Vitale
Michiel, and most of the Dalmatian towns willingly

* Romanin, Sioria Documentata di Venezia, torn. viii. p. 455, seq»;
Farlati-Coleti, Illyricum Sacrum^ vi. 60-80.

* H. Brown, op, cii.^ p. 10 r.

40 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

returned to Venetian suzerainty/ Ragusa too surrendered,
though not without resistance, and the event is thus
described in the Cronaca Altinate : * —

** The Ragusans, who, like the others (Dalmatians),
were under oath of fealty to the lord Doge, would not
go forth to do him homage, but they came out in arms
as though to insult the host. Wherefore the Venetians,
in high dudgeon, marched against them, and pursued
them even to the gates of the city. The same day, at
the ninth hour, they began the attack with so much
vigour that many of the citizens were killed, and, having
stormed the battlements, they captured some of the
towers, on which they raised the ducal standards. The
assault was kept up with great energy until evening. At
dawn on the following morning, while men and machines
were being prepared for the battle, Tribuno Michiel, the
Archbishop of Ragusa, issued forth from the city with the
clergy and the nobles bearing crosses, and they cast them-
selves at the feet of the Doge, imploring mercy for
themselves and all the citizens, and declaring that they
and their city made full submission. The Dc^e, calm
and prudent, was moved by pity, and on the advice of
his followers received them. And all the citizens sang
the praises of the D(^e, and all who were above twelve
years of age swore the oath of fealty to him and his
successors. In addition, they provided money and wine
for each galley, and in obedience to the Doge*s orders
demolished part of their walls, that tower which had

^ Spalato, however, remained subject to the empire until Manuel's
death in 1180.

* In the Archivio Storico ItalianOy viii. 154, lib. v.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 43

been expressly built for the Emperor. They consented
that their archbishopric should be subject to the
Patriarchate of Grado, provided that the Pope per-
mitted it/ When these things had been accomplished
the Doge appointed the noble youth Raynerius Joannes
(Renier Zane or Zen) as Viscount, and set sail with his
fleet for Romania." *

Dandolo's account is almost identical, and so is that
of Sabellico, save that the latter does not mention the
actual storming of the town. He merely says that the
Ragusans sued for peace through their archbishop, and
that they themselves demolished the tower on which the
Imperial standard had been raised. Whichever version
we accept, it is clear that Ragusa again made full sub-
mission to the ducal authority, and came once more
under Venetian supremacy. We must not forget that
Tribuno Michiel, the archbishop, was a Venetian, and
probably there was a Venetian party in the city as well
as a Byzantine party. When it became evident that the
Venetians were in earnest, the faction which favoured
them at once prevailed. " Esadastes," as usual, casts
doubts on the whole story, because Dandolo and Sabellico
do not agree as to the attack, but he does not even
mention the account of the Cronaca Altinate. Resti
denies the submission altogether. It should be remem-
bered that whereas Dandolo and the author of the Altinate
Chronicle wrote barely a century after the events related,

■* - ••

* This stipulation appears in nearly all the subsequent treaties t>r : : :
dedition by which Ragusa surrendered to Venice. By this act the Ragu- - -
san Church came under the authority of a Venetian prelate.

* By Romania, mediaeval historians mean the Eastern Empire.

44 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the Ragusan historians flourished in the sixteenth, seven-
teenth, and eighteenth centuries, and wrote with the
express purpose of combating all Venice's claims over
Ragusa.

But, as before, the surrender did not greatly affect
the internal aflFairs of the city, which continued to be
managed by the citizens themselves. Nor did Venetian
suzerainty last long. The campaign against the Eastern
Empire ended most disastrously ; the fleet was decimated
by disease, and returned to Venice in 1172 a complete
wreck. Venetian influence in Dalmatia was greatly re-
duced in consequence, while that of the Empire revived
proportionately, and lasted until Manuel's death in 11 80.
The country was, however, regarded as still in a measure
connected with Venice, and in the treaty of peace which
the latter made with William of Sicily in 1175 he pro-
mised not to invade " the lands which are under the
rule of the Doge of Venice and of the Venetians," ^ and
Dalmatia was included among these.

In the meanwhile Ragusa was developing international
relations of a different character, i.e. with the Slavonic
principalities of the interior. In the earliest times
Ragusan territory was limited to a small part of the
actual city, and for a long time did not extend beyond
the walls. Constantine Porphyrogenitus informs us
that it bordered on the two states of Zachulmia and
Tribunia. The vineyards of the Ragusans were on the
J,.: r territory of these tribes, and the citizens paid a yearly
'i ' t tribute of thirty-six numismata (gold pieces) to the Prince
of Zachulmia, and as much to the Prince of Tribunia.*

* Uber Pactorum^ ii. p. 117, v. * Op. cit.^ cap. 3a

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 45

As the population increased they gradually extended
their cultivation to the whole of these districts. The
Tribunian vineyards were in the !Zupa of Zrnovica
(Breno); those of Zachulmia in the Zupa of Rijeka
(Ombla), as far as Malfi, and in that of Poljice.^ The
tribute which the Ragusans paid for this privilege was
called margarisium or magarisium ; ^ its value varied con-
siderably. In 1363 that due to the Zachulmians was
of sixty ipperperi^ paid by the owners of the vineyards in
proportion to the extent of their holdings. The Zach-
ulmians, on their side, sent a cow, called the vacca di
margarisioy which was divided between the Count of
Ragusa and some of the hni homines (^optimates) of the
city. Later, instead of one animal, several were sent.'
Besides the tribute, the Ragusans paid a tithe in kind to
the Slave princelings. From time to time they made
special treaties with their neighbours, usually of a com-
mercial character. By one of these, which Resti dates
831,* Svetimir, King of Bosnia, agreed to send 50 oxen,
500 sheep and goats, and 200 loads of oats to Ragusa,
and to treat the Ragusans in his territory as though they
were his own subjects, while they were to send him four-
teen braccia^ of red cloth. This indicates the city's
economic position, which enabled it to send manufac-
tured articles from the west into the Balkan lands,
while it bought from the latter the cattle and foodstuffs
which its own limited territory could not provide. Even

' Jire^ek, op, city p. 12.

^ According to Miklosich, the word is of Arabic origin.

' Jireiek, op. cit,

* Probably this is too early.

^ A braccio is about an ell.

46 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

in later times most of the grain consumed by the Ragusans
was imported from abroad.

Relations with the Slaves, however, were not always
of so peaceable a character, and the Ragusans were often
engaged in little wars with their turbulent neighbours.
The gradual extension of the Ragusan vineyards was a
fertile source of dispute {lis de vineis)^ as the Republic
claimed and finally obtained by prescription the right to
govern the territory in question. Another cause of dis-
pute was the arrest and ill-treatment to which Ragusan
merchants were often subjected when travelling in the
interior. At other times the Ragusans aroused the ire
of the neighbouring princes by giving shelter to their
rebellious subjects. The story of Bodino, in spite of its
legendary character, illustrates this very clearly. This
Slavonic prince, having deposed his uncle, Radoslav,* and
made himself King of Dalmatia and Croatia, conquered
Bosnia and Servia. But he wished to get rid of Rado-
slav*s sons, who still ruled over a small territory on the
river Drina. In this he succeeded by treachery, but their
children managed to escape to Ragusa, and placed them-
selves under the protection of the Republic. Bodino
demanded that they should be given up to him, and on
the refusal of the Ragusans he besieged their city for
seven years. At the end of this time, finding that his
efforts were useless, he put his cousins to death, and
retired with the bulk of his army. But in order to
molest Ragusa he built a castle at the head of the bridge
connecting the town with the mainland, and left a small
containing force behind. The Ragusans obtained pos-

^ Jire^ek, ibid, ^ The name is sometimes spelt Kadosav.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 47

session of this stronghold by the following stratagem.
After having bribed the commanders of the garrison
by promising them land and honours in the city, they
allowed a large consignment of wine to fall into the
hands of the enemy ; while the latter were making
merry on it the burghers issued forth and put them all
to the sword. The castle was destroyed, and the church
of San Niccol6 in Prijeki^ erected on its site. These
events are recorded as having occurred some time during
the eleventh or twelfth century, but the accounts are by
writers who lived several hundreds of years later. Prob-
ably there were wars with the Slaves in which incidents
of a similar character occurred, but the seven years' siege
is pure fiction, and the name of Bodino is not found in
any history of the Serbs or Croatians.

Another Servian war, on which we possess somewhat
more reliable information, is that which broke out in
1 1 84 between the Ragusans and Stephen Nemanja, King
of the Serbs. An army commanded by the King himself
attacked the city from the land side,* while a fleet under
his brother, Miroslav, attacked it by sea. The citizens,
under Michele Bobali, completely defeated the besiegers,
who were ignorant of siege operations and quite unpro-
vided with necessaries. On the Feast of the Three
Martyrs,' September 27, 11 86, peace was concluded.*

* Prijeki means " beyond " in Serb, and the church was so called
because it was beyond the channel.

* The figures given by Engel (§ 19)^20,000 horse and 30,000 foot —
are probably exaggerated.

' The Three Martyrs of Cattaro were saints murdered by the heathen,
or, as some assert, by heretics.

* The treaty is published in the Monum^ specU Historiam Slav^
Merid,^ Agram, vol. i. Document xviL

48 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Both sides agreed to forget past injuries, and Nemanja
granted the Ragusans permission to trade in all parts of his
dominions, while his own subjects were to be protected
at Ragusa; but it was also stipulated that rebels should
be prevented from using the city as a place in which to
conspire against their sovereign. There was another
stipulation, that should the King or his brother ever need
a safe refuge, Ragusa should be open to them — a clause
found in many subsequent treaties.

Venice in all that concerned Ragusans relations with
the Slave states allowed the citizens to do as they pleased,
even during the period when Venetian counts presided
over its government. It was only in questions con-
cerning maritime aflairs that the Queen of the Adriatic
asserted her authority over Ragusa from time to time.

This same year the Normans made another raid into
Dalmatia, and occupied Ragusa and several other coast
towns. Norman rule lasted until 1 190, and does not
seem to have left any traces beyond a few documents.
The treaty of peace, dated September 27, 1186,^ was
drawn up "at the court of the most glorious King
William and of the lord archbishop Tribunus, in the
presence of Tasilgard, the Royal Chamberlain, of all the
nobles, of Gervase the count (of Ragusa), and of all the
people." This shows that Ragusa was under a Norman
count. Document xxii. of the Monumenta spectantia
Historiam Slavorum Meridionalium is a treaty of peace
between Ragusa and the Cazichi (another name for the
Narentan, pirates) : "And on the side of the Ragusans,
Gervase the count swore to preserve this peace, without

^ See ante.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 49

prejudice to his sovereign lord. ... In the year of our
Lord (1190), in the month of February, on the day of
St. Blaize (the 3rd), the Assembly having been summoned
by Gervase the count to the sound of the bell, we decided,**
&c. Document xxiii., dated June 13, 11 90, is a treaty
between this same count of Ragusa and Miroslav, Prince
of the Serbs, in which Gervase promises that the latter
should receive hospitality at Ragusa if he ever required
it, salvo Sacramento domini nostri regi Tancredi.

The occupation of Ragusa by the Normans is evi-
dently an episode in the wars which they waged against
the Eastern Empire, and the town was probably seized
merely as a basis for further operations. Gervase, who
ruled the whole time, does not seem to have been an
absolute despot, as the consent of the Assembly was re-
quired for all the acts of the Government. Norman rule
in Dalmatia did not survive the death of Tancred and
the consequent collapse of the Sicilian kingdom in 1 190.
In documents of a date posterior to this, such as the
treaty with Fano in 1199/ with Ancona* of the same
year, with Bari of 1201,* and with Termoli of 1203,* no
mention either of Venetian or Norman counts is made,
so that we may conclude that for the time being Ragusa
enjoyed freedom from foreign rulers.

But Venice was preparing to re-occupy the whole of
Dalmatia, and the Fourth Crusade of 1202 provided her
with the desired opportunity. The Crusaders began
their expedition to the Holy Land by storming and sack-
ing Zara, where they wintered. In 1204 they captured
Constantinople, subverted the Greek Empire, and set

* IMiLy xxvi. • /foV/., xxvii. * Ibid,^ xxviii. * Ibid,^ xxix.

50 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

up the ephemeral Latin Empire of the East in its place,
with Baldwin of Flanders as Emperor. The Doge of
Venice, Enrico Dandolo, the prime mover and leader
of the expedition, became " lord of a quarter and a half
of Romania." In 1205 the Venetians^ at the hei ght of
their power, demanded the suhniission of Ragusa^. which
was at once Jendered^ Dandolo (the historian) thus
describes this fourth surrender : —

"Tommaso Morosini, who had been nominated
Patriarch (of Constantinople) by Innocent III., returned
to Venice, carrying the Pope's letters ; he set sail with
a fleet of four triremes and made war against the city
of Ragusa, who, at the suggestion of the Greeks, had
rebelled against Venice. The citizens, no longer trusting
in the strength of the Greeks, surrendered their city to
the Venetians."

Two other chronicles^ give similar accounts of the
event. The indefatigable " Esadastcs '* of course tries to
prove that Ragusa did not surrender, because the people
who had held out so bravely and successfully against the
Saracens 340 years previously would not have tamely sub-
mitted to a squadron of four ships commanded by a priest.
The Ragusan apologist, however, forgets the enormous
prestige acquired by the Venetians as a consequence of
their exploits in subverting the Eastern Empire, after
which event Ragusa could not hope to oppose the greatest
Power in the Adriatic with any chance of success.*

With .this act s>f . submission ends the first period of

^ Quoted by Romanin, op. dt,^ loc, cit

^ A further corroboration, if any were needed, of the surrender is found
in the treaty of friendship between Stephen, Grand 2upan, and Giovanni

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 51

Ragusan hi sto ry, during wh ich the, passcssioD^ or rather

suzerainty^ ovsr the CJty.was a ina.ttgr, o£ dispute^^betwega,,
the Ven etians ajnH^thf^ nree.lcR^ yrith intervals of absolute
independence, and four years_ of Norman rule. As^ ^/

howeve r^ Byzantine .iiiflueiice, not ttecessarily political,
predominates even in Venice- itself^ we may, call this the
Byzan tine period. For th^next hundred and fifty years^
save for one short interruption^ Ragusa remains under
Venetia n supremacy^

An important question in connection with the growth
of Ragusa is its ecclesiastical history. Native historians
have attempted to prove that the city was an archiepis-
copal see from the earliest times, and that it succeeded
to Salona, whence some of its first settlers had come, as
the metropolis of all Dalmatia. This latter contention
proving quite untenable (the Archbishop of Salona, to-
gether with the majority of the surviving inhabitants,
took refuge at Spalato, which became an archiepiscopal
see in consequence), they declare that the Ragusan arch-
bishops had succeeded to those of Doclea. That city,
they assert, had been destroyed by the Bulgarian Tsar
Samuel, and its archbishop fled to Ragusa, which be-
came ipso facto an archiepiscopal see. A more accurate
account is that contained in the Illyricum Sacrum of
Farlati. Doclea was destroyed, not by Samuel, who
became Tsar of the Bulgarians in 976, but by Simeon.
In fact Porphyrogenitus, who wrote in 949, mentions
the event as having occurred during his own lifetime.

Dandolo, Count of Ragusa {Mon, SI, Mer,^ vol. i. doc. xxxix.). No date
is given, but it must be previous to 1222, as in that year Stephen
received the title of King from Pope Honorius III., whence his designation
of Prvoviencani^ or First Crowned.

52 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

According to the lUyricum Sacrum the exact date was
926. John (the archbishop) actually did take refuge
at Ragusa, where, on the death of the local bishop, he
succeeded to the see, retaining his superior title by cour-
tesy. His successors wished to continue in the dignity,
and even began to assume metropolitan authority, re-
fusing to obey the archbishop of Spalato. The dispute
lasted many years, and the bishops of the newly-created
see of Antivari^ claimed that they were the true suc-
cessors to the archbishops of Doclea. Pope Gregory VII.
apparently refers to these contentions in his Epistle to
Michael, King of the Slaves.^ The Roman Pontiff
hereby summons " Peter, bishop of Antivari, the bishop
of Ragusa, and other suitable witnesses, by means of
whom the contention between the archbishop of Spalato
and Ragusa' may be judicially examined and canonically
defined," to repair to the Holy See. What Gregory's
decision was we arc not informed, but in the end the sec
of Ragusa was separated from that of Spalato and erected
into an archbishopric with metropolitan authority. The
same thing was done in the case of Antivari. Thus by
the thirteenth century we find that Dalmatia was divided
into three ecclesiastical provinces. The reasons why the
Ragusans were so anxious to have an archbishopric of
their own were political not less than religious. We have
seen how important a personage the Ragusan bishop was
in the constitution, and if he were to owe obedience to

^ On the sea coast of Montenegro, near the Lake of Scutari.
" Dated " Ides of January, Indict. I." (1078).

' It will be noticed that Ragusa is alluded to first as a bishopric and
then as an archbishopric in the same document.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 53

a prelate in a foreign and possibly hostile State, he might
be induced to act in a manner prejudicial to the interests
of the Republic. The existence of a separate province,
which lasted down to our own times, also constituted a
further assertion of Ragusan independence.

The importance of the Ragusan Church was further
enhanced by the conversion of the neighbouring Slaves,
to whom Ragusa was the nearest religious centre.
Ragusan missionaries went among them to preach the
Gospel, and ecclesiastics from Constantinople made the
city their headquarters and starting-point. The part
which Ragusa played in these conversions explains the
gifts which the Servian princes and nobles made to its
churches.^ In later times religious controversies arose
between the citizens and their neighbours, in consequence
of the heretical and schismatic sects which were spread-
ing throughout the Balkan lands. Ragusa was nothing
if not orthodox, and used all her influence to second
the Papacy in trying to suppress these movements, which
were often countenanced by the kings and princes of
Servia and Bosnia. Bernard, archbishop of Ragusa at
the end of the twelfth century, wished to bring the
bishops of Bosnia under his authority, and the Banus
Culin, who at that time professed himself a Catholic,
consented. But while Bernard was in Rome, Culin
abjured Catholicism for Bogomilism,^ and set up Bogomil
bishops in opposition to those consecrated by Bernard.
Vulkan, Grand 2upan of Chelmo (Zachulmia), did like-
wise, and convoked a synod at Antivari.'

^ Gelcich, op. cit,^ p. lo. ' A heresy described in a later chapter.

' Engel, § 20.

54 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

In 1023 the Benedictine Order came to Ragusa from
the Tremiti Islands under one Peter, and established itself
on the island of Lacroma. Various Serb princes and
Ragusan citizens made gifts of land to the monastery.

The Ragusans were essentially a commercial people,
and trade, both inland and sea-borne, formed the chief
source of their wealth. In the Byzantine period, how-
ever, we only find the germs of their future commercial
development. We have already alluded to the part
played by Ragusan shipping, first in the Greek expedition
to Apulia in 848, and then at the battle of Durazzo.
But the vessels were small, and the sea-borne trade of a
very limited character. Navigation was of three kinds —
coastwise traffic, navigation inira Culfum^ and navigation
extra Culfum} Coastwise traffic was comprised between
the peninsula of Molonta (a little to the north-west of the
Bay of Cattaro) and the Canale di Stagno, a distance of
about 70 kilometres in all, with ten harbours. Naviga-
tion intra Culfum^ which extended from the Capo Cumano
to Apulia and Durazzo, was of considerable importance
even during the Byzantine epoch. Fine Milan cloths,
skins, tan, and canvas for sails were brought on Ragusan
ships from the ports of the Marche and Apulia, and
forwarded to all parts of the Eastern Empire and the
Slavonic lands. All trade to places situated beyond
these limits came under the heading of navigation extra
Culfum^ but we shall defer a detailed account of its
conditions to a later chapter, as it did not grow to im-
\ portant proportions until the thirteenth century. There

^ Gelcich, Delle IsHtuzioni MaritHme e Secritarie delle Republica di
R(Mgusa^ Trieste, 1892, p. 3.

The Qlav and Harbour Gatk

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY SS

was, however, apparently a Ragusan colony at Con-
stantinople.

The earliest recorded commercial treaty made by the
Republic is the one 'of 1169 with Pisa. In 1168 the
Republic of Pisa sent three envoys to Constantinople
to settle a contention with Manuel Comnenus. On
the way they stopped at Ragusa, and on May 13, 1169,
signed a commercial treaty with the city, guaranteeing
mutual immunities and other privileges. The Pisan
envoys then proceeded on their journey, accompanied
by the newly appointed chief of the Ragusan colony in
the Imperial capital.^ There were political as well as
commercial reasons for this agreement, in the hostility
of both Republics to Venetian supremacy in the Adriatic.
About this time the Ragusans obtained the right of
citizenship at Constantinople, granted to them by Manuel,
and confirmed by his son, Alexius II. The original
documents have not been preserved, but the privilege is
frequently alluded to by later writers.

Many treaties with the other towns of Dalmatia,
Istria, and Italy are published in the Monumenta spectantia
Historiam Slavorum Meridionalium. Thus in 11 88 a per-
petual peace was concluded with Rovigno ; * in 1 1 90 an
agreement with the Cazichi or Narentans" (also called
Dalmisiani, from the town of Almissa); in 1191 a
treaty with Fano, and others to which we have already
alluded. These agreements were all similar in character,
and their object being to insure mutual and commercial

^ Marcius noster Constantinopolitanus, Vicecomes, Mon, SI, Mer, I.,
doc. xiv.

* Ibid,^ xxi. ' Ibid,^ xxiL

S6 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

privileges. Some contained special clauses exempting
the citizens of the contracting cities from certain taxes
and customs dues.

Traffic with the Slavonic states also began early, but
the great trade highways from the coast to the interior
were not fully developed until the next century.

Artistic and intellectual development, in which By-
zantine influence is conspicuous, was still in its infancy,
and of the few buildings of this period with any archi-
tectural pretensions only the smallest traces remain.
The town was built chiefly of wood, save for the walls
and a couple of small churches. The oldest edifice of
which anything remains is the Church of San Stefano,
mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus as the most
important in the town. Four ruined walls in a court
near the diocesan seminary are believed to have belonged
to this very ancient building. The tradition is that it
was erected by Stephen, Banus of Bosnia, or by his
widow. Gelcich suggestively describes what the building
must have been like : ** In the church of St. Stephen at
Ragusa we must picture to ourselves not a work of art,
but a chapel capable of containing few beyond the
ministers at the altar ; low-vaulted, decorated internally,
and perhaps externally, with frescoes ; an apse just large
enough for the altar, lit by such few rays of sunlight as
could penetrate by an irregular number of holes piercing
the stone slab which closed the single-arched window
placed over the altar.'* ^ On the outside wall there is a
fragment of bas-relief of two arches, each containing a
cross on a design of foliage. Close by is the area of a larger

^ Gelcich, op. city pp. 13, 14.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY 57

church, also in ruins, of a later date, to which Santo
Stefano afterwards served as a sacristy.

Another church of the Byzantine period is that of San
Giacomo in Feline/ on the slopes of the Monte Sergio,
mentioned by documents of the thirteenth century as
already very ancient. Seen from outside, there is nothing
to tell one that it is a church at all, but internally it is
in good repair, and it is still occasionally used for
services. It is quite plain, and has round arches and
vaultings. It consists of a nave, three bays, and an apse.
The single window, which is a later addition, is to the
left of the altar. A small painting of the fourteenth
century is the only ornament. Two other churches —
San Niccol6 in Frijeki, and Santa Maria in Castello —
although both of this epoch, were entirely rebuilt in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The best — one is
tempted to say the only — piece of Byzantine sculpture
in the town is a handsomely carved doorway in a chapel
near the Duomo. The design, though simple, is elegant
and graceful. On the island of Lacroma an inscription
marks the burial-place of Vitalis, archbishop of Ragusa
from 1023 to 1047,

This, then, is the sum of Byzantine remnants at
Ragusa. The name of Monte Sergio, as Frof. Eitel-
berger says, is the only relic of the Oriental Church ;
while the name of the west gate, Forta File or Fille, is
apparently derived from the Greek IIiJXcw.

Of literary production it is as yet too early to speak,
for Ragusan literature only begins with the Renaissance.

* Peline is Slavonic for sage.

CHAPTER III

VENETIAN SUPREMACY
I.— THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAWS, 1204-1276.

During the next hundred and fifty years, save for two
or three short interruptions between 1221 and 1233,
Ragusa is admittedly a vassal state of the Venetian
Republic, ruled by Venetian counts appointed by the
Doge. Venice was, however, the protectress rather
than the absolute mistress of the Dalmatian townships,
which continued to enjoy a considerable measure of self-
government. Venetian influence was useful to them as
a protection both against the pirates which infested the
Adriatic and the turbulence of the Slavonic princes,
although as regards her relations with the latter, Ragusa,
at all events, was free to manage even her foreign policy
to a great extent. It will be well to examine the condi-
tions of the Slavonic hinterland at this period.

During the twelfth century the Slave lands were be-
ginning to assume a semblance of order, and early in the
thirteenth century, out of the chaos of barbarous and
more or less independent tribes, four principal states
had taken shape. They were Servia or Rascia, Bosnia,
Hlum or Hum, and Doclea. The most important of
these was Servia, welded into a kingdom by the Nemanja

dynasty, who had extended their frontiers southwards

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 59

and eastwards at the expense of the Eastern Roman
Empire. It included, besides modern Servia, as far as
the Ibar and the Servian Morava, a part of Bosnia to
the east of the water-shed between the rivers Bosna and
Drina, the district of Novibazar and Old Servia, and a
part of Albania.^ It had no regular capital in the modern
sense, but the kings resided usually at Prizren, at Scutari,*
or at Skopje (Osktlb). It touched the sea-coast at the
Bocche di Cattaro and in Albania ; and the town of Gittaro
was sometimes under Servian protection. The importance
of the country does not begin until the reign of Stephen
Nemanja (1143 or 11 59). He extended his territory so
as to include Bosnia in 11 69, and reduced all the semi-
independent iupans (feudal lords) to subjection. He
was still under Byzantine suzerainty, but after the death
of Manuel Comnenus in 11 80 he refused to pay tribute
to his successor, conquered Ni§, and made PriStina" his
capital. In 1185 he shook off all allegiance to the
Greeks, and assumed the title of King of Servia, but
was not crowned. In 1195 he abdicated in favour of
his son, Stephen Uro§, who was crowned by his younger
brother, St. Sava, the first archbishop of Servia. Stephen
UroS's reign was peaceful, and Servia flourished under
him. His brother, Vukan, had inherited the Zeta and part
of Hlum from his father, but owed allegiance to Stephen
UroS. When the Latin Empire of Constantinople was
established in 1205, Baldwin recognised him as indepen-

^ Now included in the Turkish vilayets of Kossovo and Scutari.

* William of Tyre speaks of the " Rex Sclavorum " residing at Scutari
at the time when the Crusaders were in Dalmatia. This is the 2upan
Vlkan (1089-1105).

* In the plain of Kossovo, near Mitrovica (Mitrovitza).

6o THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

dent King of Servia, Bosnia, and Dalmatia. UroS died in
1224. His son, Stephen III., captured the town of Vidin
or Bdin from the Bulgarians, and the district of Syrmia
between the Save and the Danube. His brother, Ladislas,
who succeeded him, abandoned Vidin on marrying the
Bulgarian Tsar*s daughter. A third brother, Stephen IV.
the Great, succeeded in 1237. With Stephen Uro5 II.
Milutin (succeeded 1275) Servia is almost at the height
of her power. He conquered a large part of Macedonia,
capturing the town of Serres, besieged Salonica in 1285,
and invaded Albania. He added Bosnia, which had
been under Hungarian vassalage, once more to Servia,
by divorcing his first wife and marrying Elizabeth, the
daughter of the King of Hungary, who gave him Bosnia
as a dowry. His grandson, Stephen, who was called
Du§an or the Strangler, because he had strangled his
own father,^ succeeded in 1331, and extended his power
over the greater part of the Balkan peninsula. He
conquered the rest of Macedonia and Albania, and re-
duced Bulgaria to a state of vassalage. In 1346 he had
himself crowned " Tsar of the Serbs and Greeks." *

Bosnia, which corresponded to the modern region of
that name, minus the eastern districts under Servia and
the north-west corner, was ruled by a Banus who owed
allegiance to Hungary. The first Banus, whose name is
recorded in authentic documents, is Bori6, who reigned
from 1 1 54 to 1 163. During the next twenty years the
country was under Byzantine suzerainty, represented at

^ This etymology is somewhat doubtful. Du§a also means the soul.
« B. Kdllay, Geschichte der Serben; William Miller, The Balkans;
F. Kanitz, Serbien,

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 6i

times by Greek governors, at others by native princes
with Imperial diplomas. In 1 1 80 the great Banus Kulin
or Culin came to the throne, shook ofF Byzantine autho-
rity, and ruled the country wisely and well for twenty-
four years. He cultivated friendly relations with his
neighbours, including Ragusa.^ " The days of Culin "
became proverbial in later and less happy times to indi-
cate a golden age. After Culin*s death the country*s
prosperity declined, but revived to some extent under
Matthew Ninoslav (1232). After the death of his suc-
cessor in 1254 Bosnia fell once more under Hungarian
vassalage, and was divided into Bosnia proper (afterwards
Bosnia-MaCva) under native vassal Bani, and the district
of Usora and Soli ruled by Hungarian magnates. After
a short period under the Croatian house of §ubi(5 the
native prince, Stephen Kotromani6, became Banus under
Hungarian suzerainty, and reigned until 1353, when his
nephew, Stephen Trvartko or Tvrtko,^ succeeded him
and crowned himself king.

The land of Hlum or Hum had in early times
formed part of the kingdom of Doclea, and included,
besides the modern Herzegovina, Tribunia (or Travunia),
the peninsula of Sabbioncello, a long stretch of Dalmatian
coast, and part of Montenegro. In 10 15 it was con-
quered by the Bulgarian Tsars, whose empire had spread
to the Adriatic. The Greek Emperor, Basil II. (Bui-
garoktonos\ reconquered it in 1019, and in 1050 the
native prince Radoslav drove out the Greeks, and made
himself ruler of the country. Among his successors was
Bodino, who is said to have besieged Ragusa. During

^ See ante, ' Klaid, Geschichte Bosniens,

62 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the twelfth century the Servians attacked Doclea, and
in 1 143 King Radoslav II. asked the Greek Emperor for
help against them; but in 1150 Hlum was conquered
by Dessa (or Stephen Nemanja), brother of the King of
Servia, renDccupied by the Greeks a few years later, and
in 1168 added once more to the kingdom of Servia.
From 1 198 to the beginning of the thirteenth century
it was connected with Croatia, after which it returned
once more to the Servians. The latter were extremely
anxious to possess Hlum, because it afforded them their
best opening to the sea (to the north they were cut off
by Bosnia and Croatia). In all probability it continued
to form part of Servia until added to the Bosnian Banate
by Stephen Kotromani6 about 1320 or 1330, shorn,
however, of Stagno by the Ragusans, as we shall see
subsequently.

Ragusa was thus surrounded on all her land frontiers

by powerful Slavonic states, who at times were friendly, but

envied her wealth, and above all her splendid port ; of

this they tried on more than one occasion to gain posses-

I sion. Ragusa relied for safety on their own dissensions

'; and on Venetian protection. In the meantime she made

the most of her position by exploiting their territory for

\ commercial purposes.

Of the first twenty years of Venetian rule there is
little to record. Of the counts, only one name is men-
tioned between 1204 and 1222 — Giovanni Dandolo,^

^ Klaid, ofi,. cit.^ cap. vi.

' A treaty between Ragusa and Taddeo, Count of Montefeltro and
Podestk of Ravenna and Ccrvia, 12 16-1238 {Mon. spect Hist, Slav.
Mer.y vol. i. doc. 49, pp. 35, 36; also in other documents of that
collection between 1204 and 1226).

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 63

who may have ruled during the whole period. But
about this time there occurred a curious event in the
history of the town, which is described as a Ragusan
version of the story of Marin Faliero. It is variously
represented as having occurred about 1221-1223 or
1 230-1 232. The earlier date appears to be more prob-
able, for reasons which we shall explain. Apparently
for a few years previously Ragusa had been enjoying
what was practically absolute freedom, as no Venetian
count had been appointed. In 1221 or thereabouts a
certain Damiano Giuda or Juda was elected count by
popular assembly. But instead of resigning the dignity
after six months, which had been the usual period during
the intervals of independence, he continued in office
illegally for two years ; he tyrannised over the people,
subjected his enemies to arbitrary arrest, exile, and
confiscation, and kept a bodyguard of mercenaries.^ The
citizens tired of this misgovernment, and were willing to
call in the Venetians once more. A conspiracy was set
on foot to bring about the tyrant's downfall, under the
leadership of his own son-in-law, Pirro Benessa. What
increased the discontent among the Ragusans was the
fact that since the rupture with Venice that Republic had
ceased to protect them against piracy, and their mari-
time trade suflFered in consequence. Giuda*s arbitrary
proceedings had also caused trouble with the other Dal-
matian towns. A group of nobles met to discuss the
matter, and although some, including Vito and Michele
Bobali, opposed any suggestion that Venetian aid should
be resorted to, their objections were overruled, and it

^ Resti, who erroneously records the date as 1202.

64 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

was decided to send a deputation to Venice, headed by
Pirro Benessa himself. On its arrival it was well re-
ceived, and the Government sent a squadron of six
galleys down the Adriatic, ostensibly to escort the
Patriarch of Constantinople. It weighed anchor at
Ragusa, where Benessa landed and visited the tyrant,
advising him to come and pay his respects to the
Patriarch and the Venetian admiral. Not suspecting
treachery Giuda agreed, and went on board the principal
galley. He was instantly seized and loaded with chains,
and the fleet sailed away. When he found himself thus
outwitted, in a fit of rage and despair he committed
suicide by beating his head against the sides of the vessel.
In exchange for this deliverance the Ragusans agreed to
readmit the Venetian counts.

How far this story is authentic we cannot decide, but
in its main features it is probably true. It may be that
Damiano Giuda was a patriot, whose object was to con-
solidate Ragusa as a free city, independent of all Venetian
tutelage, but that he felt that the community was still
too weak to stand alone unless ruled by a strong personal
government. Or he may have been, as most historians
make him out, merely an ambitious citizen, like those
who made themselves masters of the various Italian
city-republics. Be that as it may, the important point
is the subsequent connection between Ragusa and Venice.
There is a letter addressed to one Velcinno,^ Podesti of
Spalato, which alludes to "Zellovellus ragusiensis comes,*'
and to the story of Damiano Giuda. This Velcinno is
probably the same as Buysinus, who was podesti from

^ Mon. Slav, Mer,^ vol. i. p. 4a

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 65

1221 to 1223. This would indicate that the episode
was over not later than 1223, and that Zellovellus had
come as Venetian count. We know that Damiano
tyrannised for two years, so he must have entered office
at least as early as 122 1. But as he had been elected by
the people and not appointed by the Doge, Ragusa must
at that time have been independent of Venice. Now
there are documents of 1224 *^d 1226 in which the
Ragusans are reprimanded for having failed to send
hostages to Venice and otherwise fulfil their promises.
The final treaty of submission regulating Venetian
suzerainty over Ragusa is dated 1232. Fisani concludes
from this that the Zellovello letter is a forgery; that
Ragusa shook ofF Venetian supremacy between 1224 and
1226, remained free and independent until 1230, when
Giuda became tyrant; and that the submission of 1232
was the price which the Ragusans paid for being freed
from him.^ Professor Gelcich, however, holds to the
authenticity of the Zellovello letter,* but does not allude
to the documents of 1224 and 1226 regarding the
hostages and the prohibition to the Ragusans against
trading with Alexandria.^ It is, I think, probable that
these documents refer to a later rebellion against Venetian
authority. Venice had helped the Ragusans to shake off
domestic tyranny, say, about 1223, exacting in exchange
certain promises of allegiance and a number of hostages.
These stipulations were not fulfilled ; hence the protests
referred to in the documents of 1224 and 1226. Venice,
however, did not press her claims, and Ragusa remained

* Pisani, op, ciL^ vii. ■ Op, city p. 29.

* Venice had received the same prohibition from the Pope.

THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

more or less independent.' Finally, on finding that the
city could not yet stand alone, or fearing that Venice was
preparing to re-establish her authority by force of arms,
the citizens made a voluntary submission in 1232. This
view is corroborated by the fact that in the treaty of

1232 no mention is made either of Damiano Giuda or of
Pirro Benessa, who headed the conspiracy against him
and the deputation to Venice. The negotiations were
carried on between the Venetian Government and two

> Thai it was not absolutely free is proved by the Doge Jacopo
Ziepolo's Promissiom, dated March 6, 1329, which says : "And we are to
receive the tributes of Cherso and Ossero, as well as of the country
of Arbe and Ragusa" (Cod. Marc. DLl., class viii. Ital., quoted by
Roman in).

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 67

Ragusan nobles, Binzola Bodazza ^ and Gervasio
Naimerio.

The treaty of 1232 fixes the terms of Ragusa*s de-
pendence. "We, the envoys of Ragusa/* it begins,
*' seeing that it appears to us of great advantage that our
country should be subject to Venetian domination, beg
that you should grant us a Venetian count according
to our desires.** Ragusa was always to have Venetian
counts in future, who were to be chosen by the Doge
with the majority of his councillors. " The count shall
swear fealty to the Doge and to his successors, and thus
will all future counts to all future Doges for ever. Also
all the men of the county (of Ragusa) above thirteen
years of age shall swear fealty to the lord Doge and his
successors, and they shall renew their oath every ten
years. They shall also swear fealty to the count and
all his successors for ever, ' salva fidelitate domini ducis
ad honorem Venecie et salutem Ragusii.' *' Should the
Doge ever visit Ragusa he was to be honourably lodged
in the Archbishop's palace.

It was further agreed that the Ragusans should
always choose a Venetian for their archbishop, namely, a
man born at any place between Grado and Cavarzere, and
that he should be subject to the authority of the Patriarch
of Grado, if the Pope permitted it.* He, too, must
swear allegiance to the Doge and his successors, whose

^ Binzola Bodazza is always alluded to in this connection as one
person, but in other documents, especially in the Reformationes^ we
find the names Binzola and Bodazza as those of two separate noble
families.

' This stipulation is repeated in various subsequent documents, but it
was not always observed.

68 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

praises the clergy must solemnly sing in the cathedral at
Christmas, at Easter, and on the feast of San Biagio.

The treaty specifies the mutual obligations of the
two cities in naval matters. When the Venetian fleet
puts to sea for war beyond Brindisi and Durazzo, for
every thirty Venetian galleys Ragusa must provide one,
and the Ragusan ships are to remain in commission as
long as those of Venice. Ragusa may levy the same tolls
on all foreign ships as are levied at Venice, and the pro-
ceeds are to be divided in equal parts between the Count,
the Archbishop, and the Commune. The friends of the
Venetians are to be the friends of the Ragusans, and the
enemies of the Venetians their enemies. They must not
have any dealings with the Almissans, the Narentans, and
other pirates. Whenever Venice sends a fleet against the
pirates, Ragusa must provide at least one good ship with
fifty men. As regards tribute, " the Ragusans must give
12 ipperperi to the Doge and icx> gold ipperperi of the
right weight to the Venetian commonwealth on the feast
of San Biagio. At the same time the Commune must
give 400 ipperperi to the Count, as well as all the other
usual revenues and honours, save the salt revenue. The
Ragusans must send twelve hostages, belonging to as
many noble families, to Venice ; of these, half are to be
changed every six months." The Ragusans must pay
5 per cent, on all goods which they bring to Venice
from the Eastern Empire, 20 per cent, on those from
Egypt, Tunis, and Barbary ; 2\ per cent, on those from
Sicily. Merchandise from Slavonia was free of duty.
Ragusa could only send four ships of seventy miliari ^ to

^ Sometimes written miari.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 69

Venice each year on these terms ; all further traffic was
subject to higher duties ; the Ragusans could not trade
with foreigners in Venice, nor with countries where the
Venetians could not trade.

The document ends with renewed oaths of allegiance
to Venice on behalf of the Ragusans.^ "Esadastes"
admits that Ragusa really did submit to Venice in 1232,
but declares this treaty to be a forgery, having only seen
it in Nani*s De Duobus Imperatoris Rascia Nummis^ where
it is incomplete. He bases his contention, first, on the
fact that the provision as to the archbishops being Vene-
tians was not always complied with. This, however,
proves nothing, as there is no reason why Venice should
not sometimes have allowed the Ragusans to choose
some foreigner if no suitable Venetian were forthcoming.
He adds that the Ragusan envoys had no authority to
surrender the city without consulting the Grand Council,
and as Damiano Giuda was then ruling, it could not be
summoned. This is merely an ingenious quibble, and,
if we admit that nine years had elapsed since the expul-
sion of the tyrant, the argument has no value at all.
Then he changes his line, and insists that Ragusa merely
contracted a fadus or fidelitas^ i.e. a treaty of friendship,
with Venice, and not a deditio or true submission, and
that in agreeing to have Venetian counts Ragusa did
nothing more than what Florence and other Italian cities
did when they chose foreigners for the position di podesthy
without thereby prejudicing their liberty. It is easy to
see that there is a considerable difiFerence between the
action of the Italian Republics, who chose their rulers

* Mon. Slav. Mer,^ \. 75.

70 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

now from one town and now from another, and that
of Ragusa, who was obliged to accept Venetian counts
appointed by the Doge.^

Venetian rule was now heavier than it had been pre-
viously ; the Count made his influence felt more strongly,
no important State business being transacted without
his authority, and Ragusa was obliged to pay a tribute
both in money and ships to the Dominante, The cere-
monial observed on the arrival of the new Count was
very elaborate ; it is described in all its details in the
statute-book of Marco Giustiniani (1272) : —

" We decide that the lord Count who will come to
Ragusa for a period, shall swear in the public assembly
summoned by the sound of the bell to govern the city
well, to maintain and guard its ancient constitutions and
statutes, and to give judgment according to their provi-
sions. After swearing this oath the standard of San
Biagio, Pontiff^ and Martyr, shall be delivered into the
hand of the said lord Count by the Commune of Ragusa,
and thus will he be invested in the piazza with the count-
ship and governorship. Afterwards he will immedi-
ately repair with the standard to the principal church,
where he will receive holy water, incense, and a Bible, on
which he shall renew his oath, from the cathedral chapter.
Then one of the canons preaches a sermon praising the

' We have often quoted this chronicle of " Esadastes," not because of
the value of its arguments, but as characteristic of Ragusan individuality,
and of the way in which the Ragusans made every effort to prove and to
secure their own independence. They regarded themselves not only as
independent of Venice, but as distinct from the rest of Dalmatian and
they were always afraid that the great Republic might one day claim
their alliegiance. Hence their efforts to prove that that allegiance had
never really existed, or at least that it had had no practical effect

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 71

Doge and the Count. The latter returns to the piazza
with the standard, to receive the homage of the people,
who, after the standard of St. Mark has been raised,
swear to maintain the pact made with the Venetian Re-
public. One citizen shouts, another shouts, all shout
together: *Long live our Lord N.N., the magnificent
Doge of Venice ! ' and all and sundry in Ragusa and its
territory vow to be loyal to the said Doge and the Com-
mune of Venice for ever, gladly accepting the standard of
the blessed St. Mark the Evangelist presented unto them
by the lord Doge himself." ^

This account gives us a vivid picture of mediaeval
municipal life with all its picturesque splendour and its
characteristic admixture of religion and politics. The
piazza of Ragusa, with what was then the castle, the im-
posing church, the frowning walls, and the small wooden
houses — for it was still mostly of timber — formed a suit-
able setting for the ceremony.

The Count was assisted by two lieutenants or vis-
counts, usually, but not invariably, Venetians, each of
whom received a salary of fifty Venetian pounds, paid by
the Ragusans, and two new suits of State robes every year.
The Count remained in ofiSice on an average two years,
and during his tenure he might not leave the city even
for a single day. He could, however, obtain special
permission from Venice to leave Ragusa for not more
than eight days, but only on public business, such as
arranging treaties with neighbouring princes.

Apparently there was another break in Venetian rule

* Uber Reform, ii. 322 ; Uber Statutorum, i« i| 2 ; Gelcich, op, cit^
PP- 30. 3»-

72 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

about 1235, as in a treaty of that year with Koloman,
Count of Almissa/ and in another with Rimini,* no
mention is made of the Venetian count. In January
1236 Ragusan envoys went to Venice to renew the
treaty of 1232, but with modified conditions in favour
of greater independence. The Signory, however, would
not give way, and the treaty was reconfirmed in June on
almost identical terms.* From this date Venetian o/er-
lordship continued without interruption and witlout
modification until 1358.

As soon as the internal aflFairs of the Republic were
settled the citizens proceeded to regulate their relations
with their Slavonic neighbours. At this time the Banus
of Bosnia, Ninoslav, was animated by friendly feelings
towards Ragusa. In 1234 he had signed a treaty with
the count confirming the privileges granted by Culin in
1 1 89. On March 22, 1240, he paid a solemn visit to
the city with a splendid retinue of nobles, and renewed
the old treaties with the following proclamation : " It
was the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I, Matthew
Ninoslav, the Grand Banus of Bosnia, had the good
thought of coming to Ragusa to my old friends the nobles
and commons ; I came with my magnates, and we found
Niccol6 Tonisto, the Count of Ragusa. I, with my
magnates, made oath to him of eternal peace and friend-
ship." He adds : " My subjects and my people and my
oflicers shall love you, and with true faith protect you

' Man, Slav, Mer.j i. 78. This Koloman was evidently the son of
Andrew, King of Hungary, by whom he had been appointed Duke (or
Count) of Croatia and Dalmatia (i 226-1241), Klaid, p. 92.

' Mon, Slav, Afer,^ i. 79.

» md,^ i. 80,

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 73

from the wicked.** He granted them full commercial
freedom throughout his Banate. He alludes to a dispute
between Stephen Vladislav, King of Servia, and promises
not to abandon them should they actually have to make
war. This treaty was renewed in 1 249.^

The next few years were peaceful, save for a small
religious dispute, and Ragusa continued to develop her
resources quietly. The new Count, Niccol6 Tonisto,
however, complained to the Pope that the Archbishop
Arrengerius was a Roman and not a Venetian,* and even
accused him of heresy because he had consecrated a priest
of Patarene tendencies as Bishop of Bosnia. Arrengerius
was thereupon translated elsewhere, and succeeded by a
Venetian named John, to whom the diocese of Antivari
was assigned as well,* much to the gratification of the
Ragusans. The clergy and congregation of this second
diocese, however, were not so pleased, and refused to
recognise his authority. John's attempts to compel
obedience only resulted in inducing Stephen Uro§,
surnamed the Great, King of Servia, to take up the
quarrel of Antivari and make a raid on Ragusan terri-
tory (1252). Uros complained that the Ragusans were
strengthening their fortifications — a very natural pre-
caution — and on this pretext attacked the city. The
new count Marsilio (or Marino) Giorgi * was sent as
Venetian ambassador to expostulate with him, but on
reaching Ragusa he refused to proceed further, and two

^ Klaid, p. loi.

' Doubtless he had been appointed during the last secession of 1235.
» Engcl, § 25.

* Mentioned by Caroldus and in the Liber Pactorum, The name
sounds Ragusan.

74 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

citizens were sent in his stead/ The latter proceeded to
stir up and doubtless bribe Uro§*s vassals, so that he
thought it best for the present to renew their privileges,
but hostilities soon broke out again. The Ragusans
made an alliance with Michael, the Bulgarian Tsar, and
with Radoslav, Count of Hlum, against the Serbs which
brought Uro§ to reason, and in 12 54 the differences were
settled by stantco}

Radoslav had visited Ragusa in person that same year,
and the treaty of friendship which was thus concluded is
embodied in two documents. In the first the Ragusan
commonwealth swears to the Zupan Radoslav and his
magnates that the city will be at peace with them according
to ancient custom, and that they shall always have free
access to its market. " And all this we wish to do and
maintain to you and your people, without prejudice to
our oaths to the Lord Doge and the commonwealth of
Venice, and to the Lord Michael, Tsar of the Bul-
garians." * In the second document Radoslav promises
to make war with all his strength against King Uro§, and
to defend Ragusa by sea and land ; he also added that

^ Resti, cuLann, 1252. Ragusan writers frequently complain that the
Venetians did not protect the city effectually against the Slaves, but it is
difficult to see what they could have done against an almost inland
state.

' This institution is described on pp. 76-78.

'In the various histories of Servia {e*g. B. Kdlla/s Geschichte der
Serben^ p. 51) no mention is made of this coalition, and in fact the reign
of Stephen Uro§, save for the Mongolian inroads, is described as
peaceful. On the other hand, the treaty between Radoslav and Ragusa
expressly mentions the alliance with Bulgaria against Servia. Probably
the Mongol invasion of 1255 induced him to make peace with his
neighbours.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 75

he would remain at peace with Michael for so long as
the latter's treaty with Ragusa lasted.^

The archbishop, who had been the original cause of all
the trouble, had naturally become extremely unpopular,
and when in his zeal for Venetian supremacy he proposed to
carry out the provision of the treaty of 1232 by placing
himself under the authority of the Patriarch of Grado,
his position became untenable, and he was forced to
abdicate (1257). The Ragusans obtained from the Pope
that his successor should not be a Venetian. Another
Venetian, however, was appointed in 1276.

In 1 266 the quarrel with Servia broke out afresh. The
King was angry, according to Resti, because a number of
his nobles quitted the country and settled at Ragusa.
This statement, if true, is interesting, as it is the first
immigration of Slaves on a large scale into the city after
the early settlements between the seventh and the tenth
centuries. But again the quarrel was settled by stanico^
and the Ragusans agreed to pay Uro§ the tribute of
2000 ipperperi in exchange for increased privileges and
the confirmation of their rights over the disputed
territories at Breno, Gionchetto, &c.*

The year 1272 is a very important one in Ragusan
annals, as it is the date of the promulgation of the
statute-book by the Count Marco Giustiniani. Hitherto
the constitution and laws of Ragusa had been based on
custom, altered and modified by statutes. Giustiniani
codified all the existing sources of Ragusan jurisprudence

' Miklosich, Monumenta Serbica^ pp. 60 and 69 ; translated in Klaid,
op, cit, pp. 137, 138.

' Uro§ was deposed by his son in 1272.

76 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

into a corpus called the Liber Statutorum. Dalmatian
law is based on a Roman substratum, with additions
from local statutes, Slavonic customs, and certain com-
mercial and maritime statutes. The contents of the
new code are summed up in the following mnemonic
distich : —

" Elligit officia comes civitatis in primo^
Officiis fides datur sacrata secundo,
Causa litis sequitur temo sub ordine libri,
Conjugis inscripsit quarto dotalia bona,
Ordo datur domibus quinto plateasque divisit,
Judicis officium crimen exposit in sexto^
Septimo navigii additur, at mercium ordo,
Octavo in codice di versa colligit auctor."

The introduction, which is full of generalities and
abstract ideas, after the manner of the time, states that
the object of the code was to collect the statutes of the
Ragusan Republic, ** to harmonise the discrepancies,
suppress superfluities, supply omissions, explain obscuri-
ties, so that nothing superfluous, obscure, or captious
should remain in them." The first book defines the
position, rights, and duties of the count and of the
other chief functionaries of the Republic, and deals with
sundry financial matters. The second book contains the
formula and oaths of each officer of State ; and in cap.
xxiv. the salaries of the Ragusan envoys^ to foreign
countries were fixed. The third embodies the law of
procedure and the judicial system, and sets forth the
rules for the stanico^ or international court of arbitration,
to which we have already alluded. This institution was

^ For the position and importance of these envoys see Chap. HI.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY ^^

a peculiarly Serbo-Dalmatian one, and deserves exami-
nation. The statute of 1272 describes it as an anAca
consuetudo. It was of two kinds, the plenarium stanicum^
or full court, and the parvum^ or minor court. The full
stanicum was agreed upon by the Government of Ragusa
and that of some other State with whom the former had
a dispute. Each side elected an equal number of judges,
who met at some place easily accessible to both capitals,
and, if possible, on neutral ground, i.e. in the territory
of some State not concerned in the dispute. Thus in
disputes between Ragusa and Zara the spot chosen was
Santa Maria di Lesina, on the island of that name ; for
those between Ragusa and Sebenico, Trail, Spalato,
Almissa, or Lesina, the stanicum met at or near Prevlaka
(near Stagno) ; if the quarrel was with Hlum, at Malfi ;
if with the Serbs, at Gionchetto or Cresta ; if with the
Bosnians, at Trebinje, Popovo, or Canali. The dispute
was settled by compromise rather than by arbitration,
and each party was represented by State officials. The
parvum stanicum was convened to settle private disputes
between Ragusans and citizens of one of the Slave states
(it was not resorted to in the case of disputes with the
other Dalmatian towns). The presence of representa-
tives of the two States was not necessary. But often
when such disputes arose the parties would agree to defer
settling them until the full stanicum met, provided that
such a one was to take place shortly. It was not neces-
sary that all private international disputes should be
settled in this manner, and the plaintiff was free to
summon his adversary before the latter's own tribunal.
He only resorted to it when he feared that he could not

78 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

obtain justice from the foreign court. In proceedings by
stanicumy the old Teutonic and Slavonic system of the
conjuratio was applied, by which each party produced a
number of relations and friends, who swore to the
veracity of their kinsman ; if any one was convicted of
perjury, the curse fell on the whole clan alike. The
institution exists to this day in Montenegro, Albania,
and in certain districts of South Dalmatia and the
Herzegovina.^

The fourth book deals with marriage, wills, and
family affairs. The fifth deals with municipal regula-
tions, building laws and contracts, land tenure, &c.
The sixth is the criminal code, and also contains
fiscal enactments and smuggling laws. The seventh
regulates shipping, the relations between officers and
crew, agreements for voyages, marine insurance, re-
sponsibilities and risks. The last book contains enact-
ments on divers matters. It became law on May 9,
1272.

This code, although it is imperfect and not
altogether well constructed, marks a great improve-
ment on previous legislation, and compares favourably
with the statutes of many of the more famous Italian
Republics. The shipping and commercial enactments
are often excellent, and parts of the code, especially
those relating to land tenure and certain forms of con-
tract, are still valid at Ragusa.

^ The chapters relating to the stanicum (stanak in Slavonic) are 19,
20, 49-57. The matter is ably dealt with in an article by Professor V.
Bogi^id in the Archiv fur Slawische Philologies Berlin, voL ii., 1877, pp.

570-593.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 79

The^ Liiar Xtatufnruf f^ waa afterwards added to and
enlarged, and numbers of new laws were enacted. Until \
1357 these were incorporated in the Statute-book, but I
after the last Venetian count had left in that year a new i
code was begun, called thp TA^^r Vj^df^ or Green Book, \
which contains all the new laws down to 1460. Then
the Liber Croceus or Yellow Book was begun, and con-
tinued down to 1 79 1. The last laws of the Republic,
from 1 79 1 to its fall in 1808, are preserved in the
dej_^rggadL^ The deliberations and enactments of the
various assemblies are contained in the Liber Refor^
mationum^ which was begun in 1306. Of all these
collections of enactments, only the last has been pub-
lished, but not in a complete form (see Bibliography).
In addition, there are various minor collections con-
taining the edicts of certain special bodies.

We shall now make a brief examination of the
Ragusan constitution, which by this time had assumed
the form which, with certain alterations, it preserved
down to the fall of the Republic. Even the fact that
in 1358 the Venetian counts were superseded by native
Rectors did not change the internal constitution of the
State to any considerable extent. The constitution since
the early days of the city's existence had undergone much
the same transformation as that of Venice, and tended to
become even more aristocratic. The laudo populi was
still maintained,^ but it was resorted to less and less
frequently as years went by; and after having been an
empty formality for some time, at the end of the period
of Venetian suzerainty it had ceased to exist. The Liber

^ In the Uber Reformationum it is mentioned at rare intervals.

8o THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Statutorum was confirmed " per populum Rhacusinum
more solito (J.e. to the sound of a bell) congregatum,"
but by that time all power was invested in the aristo-
cracy. Only nobles might aspire to any but the
humblest offices of the State, and every noble had a
voice at least in the Grand Council. As at Venice there
was the Golden Book, at Ragusa there was the Specchio^
containing the names of all the noble families. These
were as a rule the descendants of the original Latin
colonists from Epidaurus and Salona, or, in a few cases,
of those early Slave refugees who were nobles in their
own country. The names themselves have an Italian
sound, although most of them are unlike any real Italian
names.* There was a fairly large part of the population
of Slavonic origin, but the official, and to a great extent
the popular, language was Italian. The laws and
deliberations and official documents' are all either in
Latin or Italian, and the general character of the com-
munity was prevalently Italian, modified to some extent
by Slavonic influences. The latter tended to increase,
especially after the end of Venetian suzerainty, and by
the middle of the sixteenth century the bulk of the
lower classes spoke the Servian language.

The head of the State, as we have seen, was the

^ The commonest are : Bassegli, Bobali, Bodazza, Bona, Bonda,
Bubagna, Caboga, Ghetaldi, Gondola, Gozze, Luccari, Raguina, Resti,
Saraca, Sorgo, &c. Only a few, such as Zlatarich, are purely Slavonic.
The whole question of the relative proportions of Itali^ins and Slaves in
Dalmatia is very obscure. Even to this day, owing to the bitterness of
party feeling, it is impossible to obtain reliable statistics.

' Save the treaties with the Slavonic states, which are mostly pub-
lished in the original Servian in Miklosich's Monumenta Serbica,

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 81

Count, who represented Venetian authority, summoned
the councils, and signed all public acts. No act was
valid without his approval, but, on the other hand,
he could not make decrees without the assistance and
consent of the councils. Of these there were three —
namely, the Consilium Minus^ the Consilium Majus^ and
the Rogati or Pregadi,

The Minor Council , which had in all probability
existed in a rudimentary form from the earliest times,
had now developed into an important body. It acted
as the Count's privy counc il^ it arranged all official
ceremonies, and gave audience to foreign ambassadors
and envoys to Ragusa. It also acted as a sort of Court
of Chancery^ protected widows and orphans from in-
jury, and watched over the morals of the citizens.
It examined the deliberations of the other bodies on
taxes, dues, and the rents, income, and real property of
the State. On simpler matters it gave decisions, and
others it referred to the Senate. It was an intermediary
between private individuals and the State, and heard
all complaints against the magistrates and other officials.
It consisted of the Count and eleven members, of whom
five formed the Corte Maggiore^ or High Court of
Justice, for all important cases.^ The members were
all men of mature age, and remained in office for a year
only. Six made a quorum.

The Senate {Rogati) was the most influential of the
three Councils, and transacted a great part of the busi-
ness of the State. It imposed all taxes, tributes, and
customs duties, decided how the money of the State

* The number of members varied at difTerent times.

(

82 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

should be spent or invested, and dealt with many other
financial matters. It conducted the foreign aflfairs of
the Republic, and nominated ambassadors and consuls.
It was the Supreme Court of Appeal for criminal cases,
and after 1440 for civil cases as well. It appointed a
number of State officials, such as the Provveditori of the
Arsenal, the financial secretaries, and the functionaries
who attended to the supply of provisions. The number
of Senators varied considerably. At the date of the
Statute Book they were thirty-five ; ^ later they rose to
sixty-one. The body included the Count or Rector, the
eleven Minor Councillors, various high functionaries, and
a number of unofficial members. They met four times
a week, and remained in office for a year, but might be
re-elected, " for the Republic desires that her sons should
exercise themselves in this kind of council, so that they
may become Senators of judgment, and learn by long
and continual experience the method and practice of
governing excellently."* By a decree of 1331' it was
decided that thirty Senators made a quorum.

The Grand Council was the ultimate basis of the
State, and was composed of all nobles above twenty
years of age,* including the Minor Councillors, the
Senators, and all the officials. Its numbers usually
ranged from 200 to 300. It met in September, and
the list of vacant offices were read out by the Count.
The Secretary called up the Councillors one by one,
drawing the numbers of all the seats from a bag. Each
Councillor then drew a ball from an urn, which con-

^ Gelcich, p. 32. • Luccari. ' Ub, Ref,y v. p. 307.

* The age was afterwards lowered to eighteen years.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 85

tained a number of gold balls equal to that of the
offices to be filled; those who drew the gold balls
took their seats beside the Count and Minor Council,
and ordered the Secretary to nominate three Coun-
cillors for each office. As each name was called out
the Councillor in question and his nearest relatives left
the hall and waited outside. Then all the remaining
Councillors were given linen balls, which they were to
drop into another urn divided into two sections, one for
the ayes and one for the noes. If none of the three
candidates received more than half the votes recorded,
the election was repeated. No one might refuse the
office thus conferred upon him, save a small number
of persons who could obtain a dispensation by paying
a small fine/

The Grand Council ratified all the laws of the
Republic ; it gave the final decision for peace or war,
although the diplomatic function was reserved to the
Senate ; it could recall exiles, it received petitions, and it
managed many of the daily affairs of the city. Sixty
members (including the Count and the Minor Council)
formed a quorum.

Besides the three Councils, there were a number of
special bodies appointed for different purposes. Thus
there was the Corie Maggiores or Major Curia^ already
alluded to, whose sentences in civil matters were without
appeal until 1440; the Minor Curia or Lower Court,
with special advocates attached to each ; the Advocatores

^ This account is based on that given in Luccari, save for such
changes as occurred between the Venetian period and the early seven-
teenth century, when Luccari's book was published.

86 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Comunis. or Public Prosecutors, and many other function-
aries. The three Camarlenghi kept the public accounts,
and the Doanerii supervised the customs. The four
Treasurers of Santa Maria had important fiscal duties in
guarding the State treasury and paying out the public
money according to the decrees of the Senate. They
also had certain charitable duties, and spent the income
of invested surpluses in providing poor girls with dowries,
and later in ransoming Christian slaves from the Turks
or the Barbary pirates. Private citizens, and even
foreigners from Slave lands, often appointed them
executors of their wills. Originally they had been the
guardians of the relics and treasury of the Cathedral, but
as they gradually came to have so large a share of the
financial business of the Republic on their hands, in 1 306
another board, called the Procuraiores Sancta Mariay was
instituted to manage the affairs of the Church, and act
with powers of attorney for various religious confraterni-
ties. A similar body was formed when the church of St.
Blaize was erected in 1 349. The notary of the Republic,
who drafted all public acts, patents, diplomas, &c., was
usually an expert Italian lawyer.

There were numbers of other officers for different
departments of the administration and for the purposes
of defence, such as those super sale^ super blado comunis^
super turribus^ the capUani di custodia^ who were elected
every month, and the captains of the sestieri or six wards,
into which Ragusa was divided. All the citizens in turn
had to bear arms for the defence of the town, and certain
nobles, who were changed very frequently, commanded
the guard, and saw that the gates were securely fa$tcned

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 87

at night. The rest of the Republic's territory was ruled
by officers appointed by the Grand Council, called counts,
vis-counts, or captains. They governed despotically, and
no native of the territory had any voice in the administra-
tion. In many cases the Government was very tyrannical
and arbitrary. Ragusan ideas of liberty were not only
restricted to a limited class, but did not extend a yard
beyond the walls. Only the island of Lagosta, purchased
in 'i 2 1 6 from Stephen Uro§, King of Servia, was permitted
to retain its own customs and laws.

It will thus be seen that the Constitution was essen-
tially copied from that of Venice, and was designed above
all to make personal government impossible. None of
the officials, save the Venetian Count, remained in office
for more than a year, and the great majority of them
could not be re-elected for two years afterwards. Every-
thing was done to prevent individuals from acquiring un-
due influence, and to make the Government as collective
as possible. All business was executed by boards and
committees, and hardly anything by single individuals.
Every detail was carefully regulated, so as to leave no
loophole for tampering with the institutions or suspend-
ing the continuity of the Government. The result was
from some points of view satisfactory. In the whole
history of Ragusa only three or four revolutions arc
recorded — almost a unique distinction among the city-
republics of Italy and other European lands, whose
history is one long tale of civil wars and seditions.
Venice alone enjoyed a similar though less complete im-
munity. On the other hand, it gave the Executive very
little power of acting energetically and pursuing a bold,

1
I

88 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

broad-minded policy, and prevented Ragusa from expand-
ing into a first-class maritime State, as it had more than
one opportunity of doing. At the same time, had it
become really powerful, and acquired a hegemony over a
large part of the Adriatic littoral and of the Slave lands,
it would have run greater risks at the hands of the Turks.
Venice, who felt the need of a swift and silent executive,
instituted the Council of Ten, to which the Ragusan con-
stitution offers no parallel. The Ragusan Senate was too
numerous a body to act in the same way, and in it those
who hesitated and doubted usually carried the day.

We realise the character of the Ragusan constitution
from the fact that so few individuals have left their
mark on the town's history. We read of the various
noble families whose names appear again and again in the
public records, but hardly any single citizen emerges high
above the others. The few names which are remembered
are those of scholars, men of letters, or scientists. Even
the ambassadors were always sent in pairs, although in
the Middle Ages this was not peculiar to Ragusa.

Another aspect was that the three Councils who had
to transact all the weightiest matters of the Republic
were also overwhelmed with the petty details of muni-
cipal admininistration. This of course was difficult to
avoid in the case of a small city-republic, but it con-
stituted the radical failing of that type of state, for its
Government was a parliament, a court of justice, and a
town council all in one. The same body might be
called upon to decide on an alliance with Hungary and
on the seaworthiness of a carrack in the same sitting.

.In diplomatic affairs, however, the Ragusans were

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 89

past-masters. The Republic was in constant danger from
the powerful enemies which surrounded it on all sides.
The Venetians, who claimed the monopoly of the Adriatic,
were ever anxious to increase their influence and to
become absolute masters of the city, as they were of the
other Dalmatian towns, and after their retirement from
Ragusa in 1358 they made many attempts to reinstate
their authority. On the mainland there was the King
of Servia, the Banus of Bosnia, the Lord of Hlum,
watching for an opportunity to occupy Ragusa, whose
splendid harbour they envied. But the city fathers, by a
policy which was often tortuous and not always straight-
forward, certainly achieved their object of preserving the
Republic's autonomy. Although Ragusa was never ab-
solutely independent — for she either had a Venetian G)unt
or paid a tribute to this or that Power — she was always
free from foreign control in her internal affairs, and to
a great extent in her external relations. The Govern-
ment always knew when to give way and when to hold
out ; this feature became particularly conspicuous in the
Republic's dealings with the Turks.

Of the non-noble citizens we hear very little. They
played no part in the Government, and were ineligible save
for the very lowest offices. On the whole, they seem to
have acquiesced in the oligarchical constitution, and ap-
parently had little desire to take part in public afl^irs.
They were ruled with wisdom and without oppression,
free from faction fights, and their commercial interests,
being identical with those of the aristocracy, were well
cared for and protected by the Government. BotK
classes derived their wealth from trade.

CHAPTER IV

VENETIAN SUPREMACY
II.— SERVIAN AND BOSNIAN WARS, 1276-1358

TO return to our story; in 1276 Ragusa was once
more threatened from outside. The King of
Servia ^ determined to make another attempt to
convert Ragusa into a Servian seaport ; he crossed the
mountains with a large army and raided the territory of
the Republic. A Ragusan force sent against him was
defeated, and its leader, Benedetto Gondola, captured
and hanged. Elated by this success, the King marched
forward and tried to capture Ragusa itself by a coup de
main. But the citizens were prepared, and the city put
in a state of defence. The massive walls and well-armed
battlements baffled the Servian king, and the Q>unt
Pietro Tiepolo, who had called in a Venetian contingent
to stiffen the Ragusan levies, defeated the enemy. The
Venetian Government sent a deputation to the King
threatening him with severe reprisals if he dared to
attack the cities under Venetian protection, whereupon
the Servians retired and peace was made.' Ten years

^ Stephen UroS II. Milutin (i 275-1 321).

' Lebret, StaatsgtsckickU der ReptMik Venedig^ L 598. Engel, who

gives a similar account, attributes the raid to Stephen Kotromanid, Banus

of Bosnia, which is clearly a mistake, as Ragusa was at that time on

excellent terms with him.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 91

later the King of Servia, being oiFended with the Republic,
harried and plundered its merchants, raided Ragusan terri-
tory, and tried to capture the city, but was again defeated.

Ragusa's relations with Venice were on the whole
satisfactory. There were occasional complaints on the
part of the Venetian Government that the Ragusans did
not fulfil their treaty obligations and failed to send the
promised galleys to take part in the expeditions against
the Almissan pirates and other enemies.^ On other
occasions they were blamed for delaying goods (chiefly
grain) which passed through the city on the way to
Venice. However, when in 1296 Ragusa was almost
entirely destroyed by fire, the Venetians showed gene-
rosity in providing money and building materials,^ and-
the Q>unt Marino Morosini (i 296-1 298) issued a decree
for rebuilding the city on a handsomer scale.* During
the Genoese war Ragusa lent four galleys to the Vene-
tians, which took part in the battle of Curzola, and after
that disastrous defeat the Ragusan ships lent aid to the
scattered remnants of the Venetian fleet (1298).

Ragusa had considerable intercourse with the neigh-
bouring Dalmatian townships, especially with Cattaro,
which was one of the oldest city-republics on the coast.
But there were frequent quarrels between the two com-
munities, partly through the intrigues of the Slavonic
princes, and partly on account of commercial rivalries,
both towns being competitors for the salt trade from the
coast to the interior.^ Cattaro had sometimes been under
the protection of the Servian kings, who used it as their

* Man, Slav, Mer,^ i. 204 (1293-1331) and 261 (1294). * Ibid^ 237.
' Re/orm,^ 57. ^ Salt was a commodity lacking in the interior.

92 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

seaport, and sometimes under that of Venice. But in
1257a treaty was made by which the Cattarini promised
in the event of a war between the Serbs and Ragusa to do
their best to harass the former without openly espousing
the Patterns cause, and each Republic was to try and pro-
mote arbitration if the other was at war. We are not
told how this curious compact was carried out, but it Was
not by any means an unusual arrangement among these
semi-independent Dalmatian townships.

In 1 30 1 or 1302 there was another Servian war,
in which Venice and Ragusa co-operated, caused by
a quarrel with Cattaro. This town was now under
Venetian protection, but continued to hold underhand
intercourse with the Slaves. The Venetians protested,
and Stephen Uro§, who called himself " King of Servia,
Melinia, Albania, Chelmo, Doclea, and the maritime
region," ^ made another raid on Ragusan territory, burn-
ing the houses, destroying the crops, and murdering
many of the inhabitants and making prisoners of others.*
The Venetians, however, came to the rescue, and
ordered their Capitano in Golfo^ or Admiral of the
Adriatic, to remain with the fleet at Ragusa for so long
as the city should be in any danger. The Serbs were
defeated on several occasions, and finally induced to
listen to the remonstrances of the Venetian ambassadors.'
In 1302^ peace was made, and as the Ragusans had

* Liber Pactorum^ 79.

* Mon, Slav, Mer,y i. 294, 295, 296, 297.
» Jbid,y 303, 304i 306.

* We find a Reformatio of May 1303 which alludes to the Servian
war as still continuing, but it was probably only a case of isolated raids
and acts of brigandage.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 93

suflFered much during the war, and the devastating raids
had caused a famine, they were allowed to retain the
grain destined for Venice, and received loans and other
favours.

For the next fourteen years there was peace, and
Ragusa remained undisturbed save for one or two small
disputes with Venice about certain prava statuta^ which
denied all value to the evidence of Venetian witnesses at
Ragusa.^ But in 13 16 another quarrel broke out with
Uro§, who arrested and plundered a number of Ragusan
traders. Venetian attempts at conciliation proved fruit-
less,* and in 13 17 war broke out. The Count Paolo
Morosini wrote that **much serious damage has been
done to the commune and people of Ragusa in their
persons and property by UroS and his people, who have
again raided our territory." Among other damage, the
Franciscan monastery outside the Porta Pile was burnt.*
The Venetians sold arms to the Ragusans, and deferred
claiming payment until the following year. These
arms were "many breast-plates, 100 cross-bows, 10,000
arrows, and 5000 falsaiores}

We are not informed as to the outcome of this war ;
but apparently Ragusa was reconciled with Servia in
1322, as in that year Stephen UroS IV.,^ who succeeded
his father in 1321, granted the city an accession of terri-
tory, i.e. the districts of Bosanka and Osoinik.® A far
more important acq uisit ion obtained during the next Iv^
few years was that of Stagno and the peninsula of Punta,

* Mon. Slav, Mer,, i. 327. * Ibid,^ 254, Misti, 1313-1316.
' Ragnina, ad ann, 1 316, also Ref, * Mon, Slav, Mer,^ \, 469.

* Reigned until 1330. • Gelcich, op, cit,^ p. 34.

94 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

o r Sabbioncello, as it is now called, which converted^
Ra gusa from ^a city-republic, w ith only a few miles of
territory beyond the walls and some small islands, into
a fairly respectable territorial State. The Punta di
Stagno IS a long mountamous peninsula jutting out
from the Dalmatian coast in a north-westerly direction,
with a sort of spur or branch promontory stretching
towards the south-east and forming a deep bay. Its
length is 71.2 km., in breadth it varies from i.i km.
t o 7.1 kni . Parts of the peninsula are very fertile,
especially in vineyards. Its population is to-day over
10,000, and in the Middle Ages it was probably more
considerable. It is joined to the mainland by a narrow
isthmus i^ km. across, with two small towns, Stagno
Grande (Slav. Veliki Ston\ looking towards Ragusa, and
Stagno Piccolo {Mali Sion)^ on the north towards the
Mare di Narenta, each with a good port. On both
shores of the peninsula are other small harbours. On
the southern coast, opposite the island of Curzola, rises
the imposing mass of the Monte Vipera, with the town
of Orebi<5 at its foot. The importance of this territory
for the Ragusa ns was £a rtlv strategical, as it formed a
bulwark against invaders from the north, whether by sea
or by land, an d partly commercial , on account of the
valuable salt-pans of Stagno, wh ic h afte rwards f orme d
one of the chief sources o f revenue for the Republic,
and are still in use to this day. The Punta and the
island of Curzola are the only spots in Europe where
lackals are still to be found.- This territory had formed
part of the principality of Hlum, which, as we have seen,
was originally joined to Doclea, and recognised Servian

VENETIAN SUPREMACY

overlordship from about 1222 until some time between
1320 and 1330, when it was added to the Banat of
Bosnia under Hungarian suzerainty. Hlum was divided
into a number of zupe, like the other Serb lands, under
different feudal families. Stagno and the Punta was
ruled by that of the Branivoj, with whom the R^usans
had hitherto lived on terms of
friendship and commercial inter-
course. The Republic sent them
an annual gift of 100 ipperperi^
which may, however, have been
blackmail to secure immunity
from piracy, to which so many
of the Slave tribes were addicted.
It is probable that the Ragusans
had had their eyes on this district
for some time, and in 1320-21
they gladly obeyed the injunctions
of the Venetian Senate to act
against the pirates of Stagno and
C^ttaro.* About 1323, for some
unrecorded reason,' a quarrel broke
out between Ragusa and the
Branivoj ; and on April 8, 1325, instead of sending the
usual gift, the Republic decreed warlike preparations
against the lord Branivoj and his sons "qui fecenint
offensionis multas, depredationes, et rubarias contra
comune et speciales personas civitatis Ragusii." A few

* Gelcich, itid.

* Men. Slav. Mer., \. 304, Misti, adann. i320->i.

* It may have been the acts of piracy alluded ta

^i'm

96 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

months later Ragusa sent envoys to Venice to request
the Doge*s intervention on account of the King of
Servians attitude, which appeared to be insincere.^ Hos-
tilities were commenced, and carried on with a barbarity
unusual even for those times. The following year
Braico, one of Branivoj's sons, was captured at Sant'
Andrea in Pelago, and condemned to be exposed in a
cage and starved to death. Some time afterwards his
brother Grubaza or Grubeza was captured, and their
mother, who had asked for Ragusan hospitality on her
way to Bosnia, was detained as a hostage. The third
brother, Branoe, was arrested by the King of Servia, who
was now friendly towards the Ragusans. The latter
requested him to hand the prisoner over to the commune
of Cattaro, where he would have less chance of escaping.
UroS agreed, but the Republic was still unsatisfied, and
private citizens offered rewards out of their own pockets
for the heads of the surviving members of the Branivoj
family. A certain Pasqua promised 500 ipperperi^ and
the Croce family 2000, to any one of the King's barons
who would kill Branoe on the way from Svczana (where
he had been detained) to Cattaro ! * The Servian king
apparently had another slight disagreement with the
Ragusans about 1327; but when war broke out between
him and the Bulgarian Tsar Michael, he required their
help to obtain Italian mercenaries, and in return he
favoured their projects on Stagno.' His successor,
Stephen Du§an (1330-135 5), was still more favourable,

^ Ex Libr, Consiiiory 1325, Aug. 15, and 1326, March 15, Cons, Roy,
xl., Gelcich, pp. 34, 35.

* Gelcich, Reform, • Engcl, § 28.

PLAN OF RAGl

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t^ Fmmtam

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 97

and through the two citizens of Cattaro, Trifone and
Niccolo Bucchia, who held high positions at his court
as Protospathar and Protovestiar, the Republic obtained
his full support. Trifone was sent to arbitrate, but his
sympathies were so thoroughly Ragusan that he actually
contributed to the price on Branoe*s head. Niccol6
finally induced the King formally to cede the coveted
territory to Ragusa, and accompanied him on a state
visit to that citf7 The Servian king was received by
the citizens with their usual magnificence t[U3^)> ^^^
Niccol6 Bucchia was presented with wi(fe lands and
houses on the Punta, and a house in Ragusa itself.
He was afterwards granted citizenship and a seat in.
the Grand Council, and became the founder of a famous
family. The document ceding Stagno in exchange for a
tribute is published in the Monumenta specantia Hisioriam
Slav or urn Meridionalium}

"We, Stephen Nemanja Dusan, by the grace of
God, King of Servia, Dalmatia, Dioclia, Albania, Zeuta,*
Chelmo, and the Maritime Region, . . . concede and
grant to the community of Ragusa by hereditary right
to them and to their successors the whole Punta and
coast of Stagno, beginning from Prevlaca to the confines
of Ragusan territory, with all the towns and villages and
houses therein contained, and also Posrednica' ... in
exchange for which they must pay to us and to our
successors annually on the day of the Resurrection of
our Lord Jesus Christ 500 soldi in Venetian grossly on
pain of paying double in case of delay.*' In addition he

* Vol. i. 589. ' Part of Montenegro.

' A small island at the Narenta's mouth.

98 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

was to receive a sum down of 2000 tpperperi^ and Stephen
Kotromani<5, Banus of Bosnia, who had certain rights over
the Punta, was to receive 600 ipperperi a year. Accord-
ing to Resti,* it was necessary for the Republic to bribe
several of the King's nobles and councillors so that they
should influence him in favour of the grant, and they
influenced the Banus of Bosnia through his secretary,
Domagna Bobali, who was a native of Ragusa. The
compact was carried out, save for the island of Posred-
nica, which the Ragusans were not allowed to occupy
until 1345. What became of the Branivoj family,
whether it was entirely wiped out or whether the
surviving members were merely expelled, we are not
informed.

The Republic at once set to work to partition the
land in the new territory among its citizens. Three-
quarters of it were granted to the nobles, and the rest
to the burghers ; the grantees were forbidden to sell any
land to the Slaves. A colour of piety was lent to this
conquest by the determination of the Ragusans to stamp
out Bogomilism and schism from the peninsula, and the
caloyers^ and heretical priests were esdled, and their
places occupied by Roman Catholics. At the end of the
century the Franciscans were established as an additional
bulwark of the Church. In order to protect Stagno from
more earthly dangers an elaborate system of fortifications
was begun, which were to serve the Republic in good
stead on more than one occasion. Both Stagno Grande
and Stagno Piccolo were surrounded with massive walls,

^ Adann, 1322.
> A name usually given to Greek priests in the Middle Ages.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY

and a castle was built in each. A third was erected
at the top of the hill, between the two seas; a long
wall with towers at intervals was carried right across
the isthmus, and other walls from both towns to the
castle on the hill. These defences may be seen to this
day, and although in a woeful state of neglect and
disrepair, still form a most conspicuous feature in the
landscape.

rORTtFlCATIONS OP STACHO CRANDB

The following year King Stephen rather repented his
generosity, and demanded back the gift on the pretext
that the Ragusans were incapable of defending it securely.
But his envoys, who visited Stagno, being convinced by
the sight of the Ragusan fortifications, and perhaps by
that of Ragusan gold, that it was being rapidly made
quite secure, induced him to confirm the grant. This he
did, and forbade his subjects to attempt to enter the
ceded territory. Another dispute with the fickle Servian
king broke out in 1330, because the I^usans had given
shelter to the widow of the Bulgarian Tsar, who had

loo THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

been forced to fly after the defeat and death of her
husband by the Serbs at the battle of Velbuid.^ Stephen
wished to secure the fugitive, and demanded her of the
Republic. The latter refused the demand, in spite of
promise of still further territories and privileges, and sent
the Empress safely to Constantinople. Stephen then
demanded back Stagno once more, and tried to take it
by storm. But as it was too strongly fortified he limited
himself to a raid on Ragusan territory on the mainland,
until called away to defend his northern frontier against
the Hungarians. Peace was made in 1335, ^^^ '^^
1336^ a solemn Ragusan embassy was sent to honour
him at Scutari.
/ The maritime trade of the Republic had brought gr eat

riches to the citizens, but co ntact with t he East also
brought the pla gue in its train, and in 13 48 Ragu sa,
like the rest of Europe, was visited by the tem ble
sgcaicgfi. It was probably introduced into the western
world by the Tartars besieging CafFa in 1344, and
although the town was saved, the relieving force caught

^ This story is somewhat confused Ragusan writers declare that the
princess in question was deposed, together with her son, by a rebellious
noble, Alexander, who made himself Tsar and offered to place Bulgaria
under Servian suzerainty if Stephen secured the fugitives for him. But
after Velbu2d Michael's widow fled, and his first wife, Anna^ Milutin*s
daughter, was placed on the throne jointly with her son Sifiman II. by
the victorious Serbs. Stephen UroS died immediately after, strangled by
his son Stephen DuSan, who held Bulgaria as a vassal state. Then
came the rebellion of Alexander, who forced SiSman and his mother to
fly from Bulgaria, and induced DuSan to marry his sister. Anna fled to
Ragusa, and perhaps this may be the princess to whom the local his-
torians allude. On the other hand, it does not seem likely that Dusan
would wish to capture her, his own kinswoman. See Jire^ek's Geschichte
.(jUr Bulgaren^ 290-298. * Lib. Ref,^ iii. 365.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY loi

the disease, which spread through Europe with lightning-
like rapidity. The following document preserved in the
book of wills in the Cathedral treasury at Ragusa,
written by eye-witnesses, gives a vivid picture of the
terror inspired by the fell scourge : —

" Our Lord God sent a terrible judgment, unheard
of in the whole world, both on Christians and on pagans,
a mortality of men and still more of women, through
an awful and incurable disease, which caused the spitting
of blood and swellings on various parts of the body, so
contagious that sons fled from their fathers and still
more often fathers from their sons ; all the art of
Apocrates, Galen, and Avizena proved useless, for no art
or science availeth against Divine judgment. This disease
commenced at Ragusa on the 15 th day of December, in
the year of our Lord 1348, and lasted for six months,
during which 1 20 persons or more died each day ; of the
(Grand) Council there died no nobles." ^ According to
Gelcich, jhe.l9taL.nui3ihcr^of . dfii^ths JiLJbe. town ranged
^r^9.ni. 22P2— ^— l.Q^QPP* including 160 nobles and 300
burghers; it is impossib le to conjecture how many died
in the tefp-ifory^ It made its appearance at the same
time at Spalato, preceded, according to the legend, by an
eclipse of the sun, so complete that the stars were visible
by day, and by a drought so great that the dust remained
suspended in huge clouds in mid air.^ Ragnina, who
wrote more than a century after the event, declares that
the belief that the Jews had poisoned the wells was very

^ Quoted in Gelcich, Istiiuzioni MaritHme e Sanitarie della Repub-
lica di Ragusa^ Trieste, p. 37.
« Ibid,, p. 38.

I02 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

prevalent, while others believed that the cause of the
disease was a conjunction of three planets under Jupiter
and Mars.^ At this time no sanitary precautions were
taken against further visitations, but large sums were
collected to build the votive church of San Biagio.

This same year there was another disagreement with
King Stephen, as we find the Venetian Government
authorising the Ragusans to purchase a further supply
of arms;* in 1349 and 1350 Venetian embassies were
sent to Servia to protest against his raids on Ragusan
territory, a Venetian galley stationed in the harbour as
a protection,' and two mangani or catapults were for-
warded to the citizens.* Some of the Venetian docu-
ments on the subject allude to Bosnian as well as Servian
raids. Klaid says that the Banus Stephen Kotromanid
actually did make raids before 1345, but in that year
made peace and never molested the Ragusans again.
His nephews, however, the Nikoli^i counts of Hlum
and Popovo, had many quarrels with Ragusa and raided
her territory, and it is to them that the documents
allude/ War now broke out between Servia and Bosnia,
because the Banus would not consent to his daughter's
marriage with the King's son, Uro§. The King invaded
Bosnia on two occasions with a large army, and besieged
the Banus in the royal castle of Bobovac, but could not
capture him. These quarrels between Bosnia and Servia,
like those between Servia and Bulgaria, were paving the

^ Annali, adann. 1348. ' Afon, Slav. Afer,^ iii. 16.

' Ibi(Ly 182, 256, 272. * /&V/., 274.

* See also Lib, Reform,^ i. 155-157, 162, 163, 169, 248, 249 ; and Resti,
iutann. 1349-1350.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 103

way for the Turkish conquest, and the obscure battles in
the Bosna and Drina valleys formed the prelude to the
fatal day of Kossovo and the bondage of the South-
Slavonic race. The Banus Kotroman died in 1353, and
was succeed by his nephew, Stephen Tvrtko, who was
the first King of Bosnia. He too was friendly to the
Ragusans, and granted them important privileges.

The conditions of Venice in the middle of the four-
teenth century were far from prosperous. The plague
of 1348 had carried off three-fifths of the population, in
spite of the most stringent precautions.^ In 1350 the
fratricidal war with Genoa was again renewed in con-
sequence of disputes about the Black Sea trade. The
battle of the Bosporus (1353) was indecisive; in that
of Cagliari the Venetians were successful, but dared not
attack Genoa, because the city had placed itself under
the protection of the Visconti. But in the same year
they were totally defeated at Sapienza in the Greek
Archipelago and their whole fleet captured. In 1354
the conspiracy of Marin Faliero broke out, and kept the
whole State in a turmoil for many months, until the
execution of the Doge and his accomplices.' His suc-
cessor, Giovanni Gradenigo, made peace with Genoa, and
the Venetians set to work to rebuild their fleet and re-
store their exhausted treasury by means of new com-
mercial enterprises in the Levant. But their possession
of Dalmatia and the land frontier north of Treviso were
now threatened by Lewis of Hungary. The latter allied
himself with the Count of Gorizia and the Carraresi of
Padua against Venice, and invaded the Trevisan march,

^ Horatio Brown, Vetua^ p. 196. ' Ibid.^ pp. 198-205.

I04 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

defeating all the forces sent against him and capturing city
after city. A five months' truce was concluded in 1356,
but when it expired hostilities broke out once more, and
the treasury was soon empty. Merchandise might arrive
by sea, but with the mainland in the hands of the enemy
there was no outlet for its distribution.^ New taxes
were raised, causing much discontent, and the Republic
was at last forced to sue for peace. Lewis made the
cession of Dalmatia an express condition of his retire-
ment from the Trevisan march. After much discussion
and expostulation the Senate was forced to agree to these
humiliating terms, and Dalmatia, which had been acquired
and maintained at such great sacrifices, was now given
up (Feb. 1358). The Republic had hoped to create a
diversion by an alliance with the King of Servia, who
had been fighting with the Banus of Bosnia, then a Hun-
garian vassal. But Stephen DuSan got more and more
involved in the Greek war, and when the Hungarians in-
vaded the Venetian terraferma he was marching towards
Constantinople, but died on the way thither (1355).

I The Ragusans were delighted at the successes of

Lewis ; they had received him with great honour when

! he touched at their city in 1 349 on his return from the
Neapolitan expedition,^ and from that moment they

'. began to contemplate the advisability of placing them-

' selves under his protection. They had been afraid of the
Hungarians when they threatened to conquer Bosnia and
Hlum, but now there was little fear of that, and Hungary
not being a great naval Power, could not threaten their
liberties by means of the fleet as Venice could always do.

^ Horatio Brown, Venice^ p. 211. ^ Gelcich, Ritgusa^ p. 44.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 105

When in 1356 the Venetians sent commissioners to
claim the Ragusan contingent for the war, the Grand
Council made professions of friendship, and agreed to
send it. At the same time they were negotiating with
the Hungarian king for the surrender of their city to
him. On July 7, 1357, Lewis confirmed their possession
of Stagno, which, having formed part of Bosnia, was in
a measure under his authority, and it is probable that a
preliminary treaty of dedition was signed at the same
time. When, by the peace of February 1358, Venice
gave up the whole eastern shore of the Adriatic, from
the Quarnero to Durazzo, she attempted to retain her
hold over Ragusa on account of that very claim to
separation from the rest of Dalmatia which she had
hitherto always combated. Blandishments were tried,
and by a rescript of the Doge Giovanni Dolfin (Jan. 2,
1358) the Ragusans were granted Venetian citizenship
and commercial equality with the Venetians.* But
Ragusa had no wish to retain even a vestige of Venetian
authority, and a few weeks later Marco Soranzo, the last
Venetian Count, left the city by order of the Doge. The
Ragusans treated him with courtesy and evinced no ill-
feeling against him, whereas the Venetian officials in the
other Dalmatian towns had departed amidst the jeers
and curses of the inhabitants. A triumvirate of Ragusan
nobles was elected by the Grand Council to carry on the
government while arrangements with King Lewis were
being completed. By a curious irony they sent com-
missioners to Venice in March to order "unum gon-
falonem et aliquas banderias cum armis D. N. D. Regis

^ Engel, Appendix viii.

io6 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Hungariae pro galleis et lignis nostris/* and later ** unum
gonfalonerium ad modum penoni de sindone torto cum
arma {sic) Regis Hungariae cum argento albo et cum
argentum (sic) de^ratum pro due. auri xxx." ^

On June 2 7 /th e final treaty was signed by Lewis o f
. Hungary and Giovanni Saraca, Arc hbishop^ of Ragusa>
at ViSegrad . The Ragusans placed themselves under
Hungarian protecti on, but were allowed to retain their
' own internal liberties more iPuliy than under Venice.
The King's praises, instead or^hdse of the Dbgc^wefc
to be sung in the churches of Ragusa three times a year.
The Hungarian standard was to be adopted as well as the
banner of San Biagio, and 500 ipperperi a year were to be
paid to the King. Should Hungary be engaged in naval
warfare Ragusa must provide one galley for every ten
Hungarian galleys whenever the Dalmatian fleet put to
sea ; if the Royal fleet alone were employed, Ragusa need
only provide one for every thirty. The supreme po yern-
ment of the Sta te was no longer to be vested in a foreign
count, but in three native" RagusansTaftewards^rc^
t o one) to be chosen by the XJouncil. _Thc_only repre-
sentative of the King was the captain of t he Hungarian

^ a nd Bosnian guard , but he too was really injthe service
of the Rep ublic, and had no political authority. From
this moment Ragusa may Be considered an independent
State, as Hungarian a uthorit y , save for the tribute, was
little more than a formality.
\ Durin g the Venetian epoch the territory of the

\/ Republic had expanded considerably, and when t he last
count departed it consisted of the following districts : — In

^ Ub, Re/,; Gelcich, Ragusa, p. 44.

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 107

the immediate neighbourhood of the city it possessed the
valleys of Gionchetto f§umet\ Bergato fBrgat), and
Ombla (Rijeka) , with the bay of Gravosa and the Lapad
peninsula^ut the frontiers were very near, and o n the
crest of Monte Sergio^ immediately behind the city,
watchmen were posted day and night. Part of this
territory had been acquired in the earliest times, but
small additions had been made at intervals. Beyond the
Ombla the citizens owned the stretch of cpast know n as
Starea or ^ ^ ^frea^^ Of the islands, they possessed in
the thirteenth century Mercana — a small rock opposite
the promontory of Ragusavecchia, with a monastery of •
St. Michael* — and Isola di Mezzo ^ Calamotta. Daksa,
an d S. Andrea of the group known to the ancients as
the Elaphites Insulae were added in 1080.' In 121 8
the more distant island of Lagost a^had been acquired,
and at an early date that of Meleda had been granted
by the Servian king to the Benedictine monks, with the
condition that the civil government should be entrusted
to the Republic. Stephen the First-Crowned gave them
Giuppana in 12 16. Between 1220 and 1224 Stephen,
Nemanja's son, granted the same monks a stretch of -
land abou t ^rnovica and Ombla. As a consequence of
the Ragusan alliance with Michael Asen, the Bulgarian
Tsar, against Stephen Uros I., King of Servia, in 1254, the
Republic's southern frontiers were extended so as to in- i
elude the vineyar ds of Breno and the peninsula on which

^ From Astoria^ a mediaeval Latin word meaning a flat tract of sea-
coast. In Du Cange " maritima, campus planus mari adjacens."
' Mentioned in 1254.
' Gelcich, / Conti di Tuhelj\ p. 22.

1 08 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the ruins of Epidaurus are said to lie.^ Here a new
town arose, which by a strange inversion of names was
called Ragusavecchia. We have seen how in 1 333-1334
Stagno and the , peninsula of Sabbioncello and th e coast
as far as the Narenta's mouth were acquired. In 1357
small additions were made about Breno and Gionchetto

between the Ljuta stream and the village of Kurilo '
(north of the Ombla). The districts of Carina and
DricnQ > although on the Ragusan side of the mountain
above Breno, remained bevond the frontier : eventually
they became Turkish territory, and such they remained
until i878.»

The Ragusan Church had also been increasing in
wealth and dignity with the growth of the Republic, and
a number of handsome ecclesiastical buildings were begun
during the fourteenth century. In the eleventh, twelfth,
and thirteenth centuries the Slavonic princes gave the
churches many valuable gifts of land, gold and silver
ornaments, and relics. But in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries Bosnia, Hlum, and Servia were
torn by religious wars owing to the spread of that
strange and little known heresy called Bogomilism, on
which it will be useful to say a few words. Of the
origin of this heresy as of its tenets there is very little
reliable evidence. In all probability it was an offshoot
of Armenian Paulicianism, itself derived from the earlier

^ In 1 33 1 a request was made to the King of Servia "de implorando
ab eo castrum de Prisren in custodia, pro securitate mercatorum nos-
trosum conversantium in Prisren," but it was refused (Gelcich, / Canti di
Tuhelj, p. 23).

* Near Petrovoselo.

' Jire^ek, op» cit^ pp. 13, 14.

Cloister of the Franciscan Monastrrv

w k

V ^

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 109

Adoptionist creed.^ Paulician colonies have been settled
in Europe as early as the ninth century by the Emperor
Constantine Copronymus, and the heresy spread to
Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, and Macedonia. In his His-
tory of the Bulgarians, Prof. C. J. Jireiek gives an
account of the beliefs of the Bogomils according to the
researches of various Slavonic scholars. They believed
in the existence of two principles, equal in age and
power, one good personified in God, and one evil per-
sonified in Satan. They recognised the New Testament,
but not the Old. All matter and all the visible world
were essentially evil ; the body of Christ was only an
apparent, not a real, body. The sacraments were
corporeal, therefore evil. They had no hierarchy, but
an executive consisting of a bishop and two grades of
Apostles. Besides the ordinary Bogomils there was a
special order of the Perfect, who renounced all worldly
possessions, marriage, animal food, and lived like
hermits. They had no churches or images. They
had a deathbed ceremony, without which one went
to hell. They did not believe in purgatory.^ But,
as Prof. Bury remarks, it is doubtful if this is a true
presentation of the Bogomil creed. Hardly any of
their books of ritual survive, and all the accounts of
them which have been preserved are written by their
prosecutors. It is more probable that they were a
monotheistic sect, believing in one God only, and
rejecting the Trinity. This view is supported by the

* For the Paulicians, see Conybeare's Key oj Truths and Bury*s
edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall^ vol. vi., Appendix 6, p. 54a
' Jireiek, Geschichte dcr Bulgaren, pp. 176 sqq.

no THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

fact that at the time of the Turkish conquest such
numbers of Bogomils became Muhamedans. It was
not merely that they went over to the conqueror's
creed from motives of mere self-interest ; there was
really more similarity between that religion and Bogo-
milism than between the latter and either the Eastern
or the Western Church.

In the tenth century there was a bishopric of Bosnia,
which until the eleventh century was in the ecclesiastical
province of Spalato. In 1067 it was transferred to that
of Antivari. Later in the same century it was added
to the archbishopric of Ragusa. But the dioceses of
Antivari and Spalato continued to dispute Ragusa's
supremacy, and in the conflict of authorities Bogomilism
found scope to increase its adherents. The Bosnians
were mostly Roman Catholics, although there were
Orthodox Christians among them. Ban Culin was
himself a Catholic, but when in 11 89 the Pope, at the
instigation of the King of Hungary, Bela III., trans-
ferred the Bosnian bishopric once more from the Ragusan
province to that of Spalato, he went over to Bogomilism,
so as not to be in any way under Hungarian authority.
His conversion gave the heresy a fresh impetus, and it
spread all over Bosnia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, and Croatia,
even to the coast towns. Pope Innocent III. had to
induce the King of Hungary to make a crusade against
the Bogomils in Bosnia, but C^ulin declared that they
were good Catholics, induced the Archbishop of Ragusa
to go to Rome with several of the heretics to be examined
by the Pope, and asked for a Papal envoy to be sent to
Bosnia to study the question. The Pope agreed, and

VENETIAN SUPREMACY iii

sent his chaplain, Johannes de Gisamaris, to Bosnia in
1 203. The heads of the Bogomil community, who were
also heads of monasteries, met at Bjelopolje on the
Bosna, and met the Banus, Casamaris, and Marinus, the
Archdeacon of Ragusa, and presented an address in which
they affirmed their orthodoxy and their attachment to
the Roman Church/ and declared themselves ready to
obey the Pope in everything. Culin himself abjured all
heresy. They renewed these declarations before the
King of Hungary and the Banus at Pest. The Papal
legate was quite content, and advised the Pope to erect
some new bishoprics in Bosnia.

But in 1 2 18 the heresy was again rampant, and
Honorius III. sent a legate to Hungary and Dalmatia
to preach a crusade against the Bogomils. But no
crusade was organised, and the legate went alone to
Bosnia, where he died in 1222. The quarrels between
the Pope and Hungary gave the Bogomils a respite, and
they became even more numerous in consequence. In
1222 Andrew II., King of Hungary, placed Bosnia
under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Ugolin, Bishop of
Kalocsa, on condition that he stamped out the heresy,
and Pope Honorius confirmed the donation. But the
crusade never came off, and the Bogomils became so
powerful that they deposed the Banus Stephen and suc-
ceeded in placing their co-religionary Matthew Ninoslav
on the throne (1232). James, the Papal legate, went
to Bosnia and found that the greater part of the inhabit-
ants were tainted with the heresy, including the Catholic
bishop ; the Archbishop of Ragusa knew of this and did

* Theiner, Man. Slav. Mer.^ i. p. 2a

112 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

not trouble about it^ so that the legate reconfirmed the
union of the bishopric to that of Kalocsa. He succeeded,
however, in inducing Ninoslav to become a Catholic, and
endow a new cathedral, which was to be in the hands of
the Dominicans. Many magnates followed his example.
But the Bogomils soon raised their heads once more, and
the Banus was either unable or unwilling to extirpate
them. A crusade was therefore proclaimed against them,
which lasted from 1234 to 1239. Bosnia was ravaged
with fire and sword, and finally conquered by the
crusaders under Koloman, the King of Hungary's son.
In 1238 the Dominican Ponsa was made bishop of
Bosnia, and by 1239 Bogomilism seemed to have been
suppressed. But the moment the crusaders retired the
heretics, who were supported by the nation, rose in arms
once more and became independent of Hungary. In
1246 Innocent IV. ordered a second crusade, but this
time without success. After Ninoslav*s death Bosnia
again fell under Hungary, but no very severe measures
were taken against the Bogomils. The Bogomil Church
of Bosnia became an established institution, and the
Catholic bishops themselves no longer resided in the
country, but at Djakovar, in Slavonia. Various attempts
to organise crusades against them failed. The Bani were
afraid of persecuting them lest they should rise in arms
and put themselves under the protection of the King of
Servia, who as a Greek Christian was also an enemy to
the Catholics. Moreover, the missionary efforts of the
Catholic Church were hindered by the quarrels between
the Franciscans and the Dominicans. Bogomilism spread
to Croatia and Dalmatia, and found adherents even at

VENETIAN SUPREMACY 113

Trail and Spalato. Pope Benedict XII. ordered the
Croatian barons to make war on the heretics (1337), but
they were too busy fighting among themselves to achieve
much result. But the Banus Stephen declared himself a
good Catholic in 1 340, and protected the Roman Church
in Bosnia once more, agreeing to the establishment of
two more bishoprics. We hear little more of the heresy
after this date until the crusade of 1360.*

The Ragusan Church suffered in consequence of the
heterodoxy of so many of the Slave princes, and no
longer received rich gifts from them. On the other hand,
both on account of its convenient situation and because
it was a stronghold of Catholicism, the town became the
centre of all this missionary activity. In 1225 the
Dominican Order was established at Ragusa, and occupied
a small house attached to the church of S. Giacomo in
Peline. When the Order became more numerous it
removed to the Ploce quarter, where a large new church
was erected for it in 1306, and a monastery about 1345.
The Franciscans first came to Ragusa in 1235, twenty-
eight years after the foundation of the Order by St.
Francis of Assisi, who is said to have visited the city
himself on his return from the Holy Land, although
there is no foundation for the legend. In 1250 a
monastery was built for them outside the Porta Pile ; it
was destroyed by the Serbs during the raid of 13 19.*
A concession of land was granted to them within the
walls in the Menze quarter, and by the middle of the
fourteenth century they were established in the large,

' Klaid, op, ciLy iii, iv, v, vii, and viii.
* Ub, Ref,y v., April 14, 1319, p. 139.

114 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

handsome monastery which still exists, built partly at
Government expense and partly by the munificence of
private citizens, including the guild of Ghent mer-
chants established there.^ The two Orders gave battle
to the heretics, and helped to organise crusades against
them, which are among the most barbarous examples
of religious persecution which history records. On the
other hand, if we are to believe the Ragusan legend,
the Bogomils themselves persecuted the Catholics in
the Cattaro districts, and the bodies of three martyrs
who were murdered by them were brought to Ragusa,
where a church was built in their honour.* It is some-
what difficult to unravel the tangle of contradictory
accounts on this subject, especially as Ragusan writers
often confuse the Bogomils with the followers of the
Oriental Church.

* Gelcich, Ragusa^ p. 21. * Ibid.^ 17, 18, 43, 25.

CHAPTER V

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA

T HE whole ba sis of_ Ragusa's prosperity, as we ]
have seen in the first chapter^ was trade. The !
Republic's territory W ^ S ^tpo sma lU and in part I
too aridy to provide sufficien t foodstuffs for the popular
tion^^and three-quarters of the grain which it consumed 1^/
annually were imported from abroad. Con sequently it
was u pon t rade and industry that the citizens had to
depend for their means of livelihood. Manufactures,
however^ savg^ gb.^pbuilcliQg , never assumed great import-
ance zt^ Ragusa, and it was not until the following
century that any industries at all were established.
Tr ade, on th e other hand, both sea-borne and overland,
received a great additional impetus from the extension " y/
of V enetian traffic and from the increasing civilisation i
of the iSlave states. At Ragusa, as at Venice, Florence,
Siena, and elsewhere in Italy, the aristocracy as well as
the middle classes were all interested in trade. We find
members of all the noble families in the Ragusan settle-
ments in Servia and Bosnia and Albania, and no nobleman
disdained to travel overseas with his own goods.

We have seen the division of Ragusan maritime I
trade into coastwise traffic, navigation in/ra Cu/fum^ and
navigation exfra Culfum. This last now became of con-
siderable importance, and Ragusan vessels were found in

ii6 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

every port of the Eastern Mediterranean. A special
form of trade which had now arisen is that described in
the Statute-book as ultra marinis parHbus^ i.e. up the
courses of navigable rivers like the Narenta and the
Bojana.

The Levant trade became extremely active, and was
no longer limited to the tract of sea between the Gipo
Cumano on one side, and Apulia and Durazzo on the
other. From the commercial provisions contained in
i the various treaties betwee n Ragusa and Venice, we learn
{ that the former traded with all parts of the Eastern
I f-yyipirej Syriaj TuniSj Barbary^ I^^ix* Sicil y^ and probablv
Egypt. At Constantinople the privilege granted by the
Comneni were renewed by the Latin Emperors Baldwin
I. and Henry. The Ragusans traded especially with the
Morea and the feudal duchy of Chiarenza or Clarence,*
whence they brought silk to Ancona and other parts of
Italy. At the same time they kept up their connection
with the Greek princes who held sway over the frag-
ments of the Greek Empire, namely, the Emperors of
Nicaea and Trebizond^ and the despots of Epirus.
After the capture of Constantinople by the Latins,
Epirus continued to hold out against their arms, and
was ruled by the despots Michael I. (who died in 12 14),
Manuel (1214-1241), and Michael II. (1241-1271), all
of whom granted valuable privileges to the Ragusans.'

^ Whence the title of the English Duke of Clarence is derived.

^ The documents on this subject are lost, but the privileges are
frequently mentioned by later writers.

s Tafel und Thomas, Griechische Urkunde in the Sitzungsberichte der
Kais. Wiener Akad. der Wissenschaften, Philos.-histor. Classe, vi. 508-
529; Miklosich u. Miiller, Acta Graca^ iii., 58 sqq,^ 66-67; Heyd,
Histain du Commerce du Uvant^ i. 308 sqq.

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 117

When the Greek Empire was re-established in 1261
all the exemptions and privileges were reconfirmed,
first by Michael Palasologus, and later, in 1322, by
Andronicus 11.^

With regard to Egypt, if for the word Rakuphia in
Benjamin of Tudela we should read Ragusa, the citizens
of St. Blaize also frequented the market of Alexandria.
In 1224 Egypt was placed under interdict, and the
Venetians forbade the Ragusans to trade there ; Ragusan
merchants before starting on a journey had to swear that
they would not visit Egypt, but in all probability the
prohibition was often disregarded.^ Subsequent attempts
to enforce the interdict were equally unsuccessful. The
object of the prohibition was above all to prevent the
Egyptian Sultans from obtaining timber and iron, which
were rare in their own country, for military purposes.
Traders were attracted, however, by the enormous profits
of the venture, for which they were willing to brave
ecclesiastical thunders. In 1304 three Ragusans were
captured whilst engaged in illicit traflic with Alexandria ;
they were granted absolution by the Pope on condition
that they devoted part of their profits to building the
Dominican monastery in their native town.'

Another country with which Rag usa had c ommercial
intercourse was Bulgar ia. In the early days of the second i
Bulgaiian Empire (established in 11 86) the Venetians
could not trade with it, as they were the supporters
of the Latin Empire at Constantinople in withstanding

^ Heyd, op. cit.^ i. 475.

' Mon, Slav. Mer.^ I 40 ; Heyd, op. cit.^ i. 308.

' Theiner, Motu Hist. Slav. Afer. illustr.^ i. 121 ; Heyd, op.cii.^ ii. 5a

ii8 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Bulgarian inroads; the Genoese were equally cut ofF
because the Venetians excluded them from the Bosporus.
The field therefore lay open to the Ragusans alone, and
they were very favourably received by the Tsar John
Asen II. (1218-1241)/ who called them "his well-be-
loved and trusted guests." The Bulgarian trade was
partly carried on by sea and partly over land thr ouglT

the Balkans.
"^ ■ .1 '■■■ ■ — .

From Italy and Sicily the Ragusans obtained mc^t of
/ their breadstufFs^ and in exchange they broug^ht Eastern
and Slavonian goods to those countries. Among the
new treaties with Ttalian towns we may mention those
with Rimini (1235),^ with Taddeo, Lord of Ravenna and
Cervia (1218-1238),^ with Ancona in 1256 and 1292/
with Fermo in 1288;^ with Trani, Bari, Molfetta, and
Barletta the old treaties were renewed at various times,
and in the Reformationes we find numerous allusions to
the special envoys sent to Apulia to collect grain. A
large storehouse was built in the city with fifteen large
dry wells to contain an adequate provision of grain in
time of war/ Constantinople, Smyrna, Durazzo, Anti-
vari, the Bojana valley, and to a lesser extent the Slavonic
principalities, were resorted to for the same purpose.
With Florence, too, Ragusa traded, and although there
was no regular commercial treaty between the two cities,
the Bardis and other Florentine merchant princes sent
agents to Ragusa from time to time.

^ Caloian or Kalioannes. ^ Mon. Slav. Mtr.y L 79.

» Ibid., 83. * Ibid,, in, 248, 251. * Ibid, 236.

* It still exists in the upper part of the town, but is now used as a
depot for military stores.

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 119

Shipping was regulated by a number of minute
enactments to ensure safety, to fix the relations between
captain and crew, and to define the obligations and risks
of the owner. The amount of cargo which each ship
was to carry was established by statute and varied
according to the seasons of the year, and the vessels were
examined before starting on a voyage by special officers
to see that these and other regulations, such as those
concerning the necessary coatings of pitch and the proper
amount of arms to be carried, were complied with. Piracy
being very prevalent in the Adriatic, it was decreed in
1336 that each vessel employed for other than coastwise
traffic should carry five cuirasses, four spears, four bows,
a suitable number of arrows, and a sword, shield, and
helmet for every person on board. The personnel of
these merchant ships consisted of the nauckrius (captain
or master), the scribanus (accountant), the mercator (the
owner of the goods carried, or his representative), the
custodia (supercargo), the marinarius (mate), the conductus
(ship's boy), and a crew varying from eight to fourteen
men for vessels up to a tonnage of eighty miara ; for
larger ships the necessary number was fixed in each
particular case by the authorities. Members of noble
families engaged in trade were constantly making voyages
on their own ships, and later we find them even employed
as scribani^ and in fact a decree of 1462 in the Liber
CroccMS established that no one could be a scribanus
unless he belonged to the Ragusan nobility.^ At this
time the ships were still small as compared with the
great argosies * of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,

* Gelcich, IsHtusioni Afarittime e Sanitariey p. 14.

' The word is said to be derived from "a Ragusa," but it is doubtful.

120 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

but they were swift and suitable for the purposes for
which they were required. The war fleet and the mer-
cantile marine, as at Venice, were interchangeable, and
ships which in peace time served for commercial purposes
were converted into warships simply by increasing the
number of armed men, strengthening the bulwarks, and
, providing them with engines of war.

Shipbuilding from the earliest days of the Re£ublic
formed an important industry. The timber was obtained
from the forests of Monte Sergio, now, alas, disappeare d,
v/ andfrom those of Lagos ta and Meleda, of which traces

still jremain, as well as from Bosnia. The iron came
from the interior, and was manufactu red at Venice or
locally, the can v as fro m Ancona and t he March e, pitc h
from Dalmatia, cordage from Ragusa itself. So jealous
was the Republic of the shipbuilHing mdustry, that no
native builder {calafato or marangone) might lend his
services to foreigners, under which heading the Slaves
were included. In later times an exception was made in
favour of the Turks. The harbour of Ragusa, which is
too small for large modern steamers — these always land
passengers and goods at Gravosa — in the Middle Ages
was ever busy with arriving and departing ships, and the
arsenal hands were always engaged in building or repairing
craft of all kinds. Other shipp in g yards existed atjthe
^ • Isola di Mezzo, at Malfi, on Giupp ana, and la ter at
[ Sta gno, Slan o^ and Ragusavecchia, The Ragusan vessels
were famed throughout Illyria, and the Republic was
frequently requested to lend some to this or that Slave
potentate, to the Hungarians, and sometimes to the
Venetians themselves.

124 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

even from Cattaro pirate vessels often issued forth to
ravage the Dalmatian coast or prey upon the Adriatic
trade. With Cattaro in particular Ragusa was very often
at war on account of the rivalry for the salt trade, and
all intercourse with the Serbs on the shores of the Bocche
was forbidden. On various occasions the Government
issued decrees forbidding Ragusan merchantmen from
setting sail without an armed convoy, and whenever
news was brought to the city that corsairs had been
sighted the armed galleys of the Republic were instantly
got ready and sent in pursuit of the freebooters. The
Venetians had undertaken the policing of the Adriatic,
and the Ragusans were bound by treaty to contribute
one or more ships for the purpose. Thus in 1326 they
were thanked by the Venetian Senate for their past ser-
vices in this direction, and requested to send two of their
best galleys to the head of the Gulf.^

Another risk which Ragusan traders ran was that
their ships and goods might be seized and confiscated in
foreign ports by the local authorities. Antivari, Dul-
cigno, Durazzo, and Trani were the worst offenders in
this respect, but even at Venice and Alexandria the
citizens of St. Blaize were not always safe.

The sailor's calling was consequently fraught with
considerable danger and responsibility, and the return of
a merchant ship from a long voyage was hailed as a
great event, especially if it occurred at Christmastide or
: Easter. Then, as Prof. Gelcich says, " more than an
bccasion for domestic rejoicing, it was a national festival.
. . . We can see with our mind's eye the large crowd

^ Mon, Slav, Mer,^ i. 204, Misti, 1326 27.

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA

125

lining the quays watching the ships entering the harbour,
each vessel trying to be the first to drop anchor, so as to
receive the small gift of one ipperpero awarded by the
State for the achievement." ^ On Christmas Eve all the
sailors of the ships which happened to be in port that
night carried a block of wood (ceppum)* to the castle,
singing songs {koknde)^ and placed it on the Count's
hearth. The Count in return gave them each a cup of
wine and two ipperperi pro kolendis. They also received
two ipperperi from the Salt Commission, and two more
from the Cathedral treasury.' All ships, whether Ragusan
or from cities with whom the Republic had a commercial
treaty, "qui navigant more Raguseorum," coming into
port were exempt from the stata or harbour dues, and
only paid a small tax to the Count, the Archbishop, and
the Cathedral treasury. With the proceeds of the latter
the new Cathedral was built, declared by De Diversis
and other writers to have been the finest church in all
Illyria. Ships from countries with whom there were no
treaties paid the arboraticum and the stata.

The weakening of Venice in consequence of the
Hungarian wars, although acceptable to the Ragusans
for political reasons, produced a very deleterious effect
on their commerce, as piracy revived; Ragusan un-
friendliness was also punished on occasion by exclusion
from the Venetian ports. Shipbuilding had declined to
such an extent that in 1329 the Venetian Senate ordered
the Ragusans to construct an arsenal where ships could

^ Istitusioni Marittime e Sanitariiy p. 16.

' The custom was an Italian one, and the word ceppo is still used for
Christmas box, or even for Christmas itself.
' Gelcich, op» cit.^ p. I7-

126 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

be built or repaired.^ A resolution added to the Statute-
book in 1358 declares that ^^ marineriza Racusii erat
amissa." Ragusan ships were now very few, and sea-
borne commerce was carried chiefly on foreign bottoms
and in partnership with foreigners. With the separation
from Venice, Ragusan trade came to be almost wholly
in foreign hands. A series of statutes were enacted for-
bidding Ragusans from associating with foreigners, and
various other measures were taken to revive national
shipping; the results were very successful, and by the
end of the fifteenth century the city had more than
regained its old position.

The overland trade of the Balkans attained a re-
markable development in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, and regular trade routes were established from
the Adriatic coast through the interior to Constantinople
and the Black Sea. Of these routes which, together
with that from Hungary, formed the connecting link
between Western and Eastern Europe, there were several.
One was from Spalato, one from the Narenta mouth, one
from Ragusa, one from Cattaro, and one from the mouth
of the Bojana. They all joined the Belgrad-Constantinople
route at different points, and all had branch routes to
the various mining and commercial centres of Servia,
Bosnia, Hlum, Albania, and Bulgaria. Ragusa^ owing
to her geographical positio n^ was always the chie f market
x/ \ on the Adriatic for the hinterland, and Ragusan c aravans

were constantly travelli ng along the va rious rout es^^ Ihfi-

chie f exports from the Slavonic lan ds were cattle, cheese,
driei^fislufrom the lake of Scutari^ skins^ wool , honeys

^ Mon. Slav, Mer., i. 204, Misti^ 1329.

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 127

wax, timber, silver, and iron. Ragusa imp orted sa lt.
manufactured cloths^ clothes^ brocades^ arms, axes^ horse-
trappings^ glass-ware, perfumes, sweetmeats , southern
fruits, fish, oil, wine, and gol d- and silversmiths^ w^^
The salt trade formed one of the Republic's c hief
sources of income, as the interior, although rich in other
minera ls, was abso lutely wanting in this necessary com-
modity. Saltrpaus were established at four points along^ >/^
the lUyrian coast — the Narenta, Ragusa, the Bocche di
Cattaro> and San Sergio on the Bojana. The ftagusans r
by me ans of old treaties with the Slaves, had almost
acquire d a mon opoly of the traffic, and they were often
able to p unish the depredations to which their territory
was subjected by cutting off the supply. The largest

■ Jill ■■rf^n.M^- <iifci^<»ii i. >M.<tM . M . ^ - — - 11,11 r I n I II I mt^mmm^mm^m^^t»»^^^^

salt- pans were in the neigh bourhood of Ragusa itself,
but after i^^^ they were remov ed to Sta gno , where the
industry is carried on to this day, and continues to
supply the saltless interior.* The Narenta salt- pans w ere,
mono polised by th^ Rap uy^ng whn established a customs
Station at the river's mQut| i j ^and _thQSft, of the Bojana, J
although outsicie their territory^ were alsaiP-lheir hitnds;
their only rival was Cattaro. whence the innu m erab le
quarrels with that city. Cloth was imported from
Venice, Florence, Mantua, and later fro mjthe looms of
Ttag usa h erself. The presents which the Ragusans gave
to the Slave princes and nobles out of friendship or as
blackmail and bribery often took the form of rich gold
brocades, silks, and satin s, which greatly delighted the

* Mjatovid, Studies in the History of Servian Trade in the Thirteenth
and Fourteenth Centuries, Glasnik, vol. 33, 37, 38 ; Jire^ek, op, cit.

• Jire^ek, op, cit.

128 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

splendour-loving barbarians . We can well imagine the
semi-civilised and proud vojvods and iupans gloating
over a consignment of the choicest products of Floren-
tine industry, and being therebv induced to concede
almost any com mercial or political ^privile ge to th e
[ patient and cunning envoys from the Republic of St.
Blaize. To this day the Slaves of Servia, Dalmatia, and
Bosnia, even the very poorest, love to deck themselves
out in the most gorgeous costumes and the brightest
ornaments, which adds not a little to the picturesqueness
of that country.

A large part of Ragusan territory , both on the
mainland an3 on the islands, was covered with vine-
yards; wine was, in fact, the chief agricultural product
I ^f the country* No wine could^^be i mported from
j abroad save by a special licence, occasionally granted to
• the Count, foreign ambassadors, or eminent ecclesiastics.
The land trade was carried on entirely by means of
caravans. There were no carriage roads since the decay
v/" of those built by the Romans. andTalF goods tiravelled
by caravan and were carried on the backs of pack-
animals, chiefly horses. Each caravan, which was formerly
^ called a turma^ a word still used in Montenegro, con-

sisted of 200 to 300 pack-animals under the charge o f
Vlach drovers. These Vlachs or Rumans of Dalmatia
were nearly all shepherds or horse- and cattle-drovers,
and had markedly nomadic habits. At an early date
they became identified with the Slaves, but, as I have
said, they were probably of Latin origin.^ In the Middle

^ There are hardly any distinctive traces now of the Vlachs in
Dalmatia, save in the name Morlacchi, given to the Slaves generally by
the Italians of the coast towns. In Macedonia, however, the Kutzo-

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 129

Ages they were usually the subjects of the feudal chiefs
and monasteries. The leader of the caravan, also a
Vlach, provided an adequate armed escort, and undertook
to protect his charge against the brigands. Most of the
traders were Ragusans or natives of the other coast towns,
but Slavonic merchants also took part in this trade,
especially those who were settled at Ragusa, where some
of them became naturalised so as to enjoy the same
exemptions and privileges as the citizens. Even noble
feudatories and kings did not disdain this kind of traffic,
and employed their own Vlachs for the purpose. The
journey was by slow stages, as the paths were steep and
rocky, and many precautions were necessary. In Bosnia
and the Herzegovina, in spite of the roads and railways,
much of the traffic is still carried on on pony-back, the
more valuable goods in gaily painted green boxes, the
rest packed up in canvas, secured to clumsy wooden
saddles. Save for the proportions of the caravans, which
are now much smaller than in the heyday of the Ragusan
Republic, and for the fact that armed escorts, so far as
Bosnia and Dalmatia are concerned, are no longer neces-
sary, but little has changed. The importance of this
traffic was very considerable, as it was then, as I have
said, the chief link between the Western world and the
Slavonic lands ; Ragusa probably did far more to civilise
the latter than was attempted by the Greeks, with whom
the Slaves have always been in eternal conflict.

Vlachs are numerous, and preserve both their language, which belongs
to the Neo-Latin group, and their nomadic habits. There they still ply
the trade of cattle-drovers or that of wandering merchants. See Jire^ek,
op, cit^ p. 60; also his Wlachen und Maurowktcken, passim; and
Turkey in Europe^ by " Odysseus."

I30 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

T he pri nc ipal route from the coast was that fro m
Ra gusa to Nis. in Servia. where it joined the great road
^ from Hungary to Constantinople via Bclg rad. The

caravan left Ragusa by the Porta Ploce to the east, and
ascended the slopes of the Monte Sergio to Bergato, the
Ragusan frontier, situated on a ridge between the valleys
of Breno and Gionchetto. A few minutes farther on
the Slave customs station of Ledenici^ was reached.
Thence the path descends into the broad and fertile
valley of Trebinjdica to the t own of Trebinj e in the land
of Hlum, which was usually the first halting-place (five
or six hours from Ragusa). The caravan encamped
outside the town, and the merchants and part of the
escort lodged in the inns. From Trebinje the march
was resumed up the course of the Trebinjc^ica past
Ljubomir to Bilek or Bile<5e ; then along what is now
the Montenegrin frontier through dense forests to Crnica,
where in 1380 a Ragusan commercial colony was estab-
lished ; thence past the castle of Kliu<5 ( = key), which
was afterwards the stronghold of the Vojvod Sandalj
Hranic into the basin of Gack o,' close to the watershed
between the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The country
about here is fertile, and offers good pasturage. The
Sutieska or Sutiska gorge was next entered, one of the
finest tracts of scenery in the Balkans, guarded by the
two castles of Vratar ; there was an important customs
station here in the fifteenth century, at the time of Duke
Stephen Kosa6i, who levied a toll on all caravans. The

^ Afterwards called Carina = custom house.

^ Ge^cha or Ge9echa in the Ragusan documents, mentioned as early
as 1275.

FA^ADB OF THE SPONZA (CUSTOM HOUSE), AND CLOCK TOWKK

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 133

route is so narrow at this point that a small body of men '
could hold a whole army at bay. The French traveller Des ,
Hayes de Courmenin, who wrote in 1621, mentions an
iron chain by which the path could be closed in war time.
On emerging from the gorge the swirling waters of
the Drina are reached, on the banks of which were a
number of castles and several trading stations ; the most
important of these was Chot6a (now Fo6t) ^ on the right
bank, with a wooden bridge ; under the Turks it was
for a long time the residence of the Sandfakbeg of the
Herzegovina, and is still a town of some consequence.
Another station was Ustikolina^ where there was a
Ra p ;usan colonv . first mentioned in 1399. A day's
march farther on is the town o f GoraMa^ guarded by the ^

castle of Samobor, after which the route proceeds in a
south-easterly direction over the finely wooded Metalka
saddle, whence an extensive view of the mountains of
Montenegro, Servia, Bosnia, and Albania is obtained, to
Breznica.^ This was an important centre in Roman times,
and the remains of a large Roman settlement (name un-
known) have been unearthed close by. In the Middle
Ages it w as the m e eting point of three trade routes —
one to Ragusa^ one to Ni§ and Constantinople, and a
third to Cattaro via the^ Tara g^orge^ the source of the
Piva, the castle of Onogost, Nik§i<5, and G rahovo. Fro m
ElsxJLje the route travelled through what is now the
Sandiak of Novibazar to Priepolje on the Lim, a favourite
halting-place of the Ragusan merchants in the fourteenth

1 Now called Plevlje (Turkish, Taifydia) in the Sandlak of Novi-
bazar. This stream^ which flows through the town^ is still called the
Breznica, and a neighbouring monastery Vrhobreznicashigh Breznica.

134 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

century. On the opposite side of the river are the ruins
of a fine large castle guarding the road, a stronghold of
King Stephen Vladislav, who also built the adjoining
monastery of MileSeva.^ A| few miles farther on was
the point which was afterwards the eastern frontier of
Stephen Kosa£a*s duchy. Another day's march brings
us to Senica or Senice, which was often the residence
of the Nemanjid rulers of Servia. Here the route from
Ragusa joined the one from Northern and Eastern
Bosnia;^ at RaSka the two routes again separate,
one going southwards to Salonica, the other eastwards
to Ni§. Just beyond Raska, in the latter direction,
was Trgoviste (market-place), often mentioned between
1345 and 1 45^ where a Ragusan colo ny was established.
Two-thirds of the way from Ragusa to Ni§ were now
accomplished. TrgoviSte was the centre of the great
Servian Empire, and the surroundings abound in ruins
and memories of the Nemanjid Tsars. At the end of
the fifteenth century thd town is alluded to as Novibazar
(New Bazar, Yeni Bazar in Turkish)! Not far ofF, in
the valley of the RaSka, are the remains of some Roman
baths, and here was probably the site of the ancient Ras
(mentioned in the tenth and eleventh centuries), which
gave its name to the whole country (Rascia). From
Trgoviste the route proceeded by the Ibar valley through

* In the sixteenth century castle and monastery were still in good
repair, and the latter was inhabited by fifty monks^ and contained the
body of St Saba, the patron saint of the Southern Slaves (see Zen's
Diary in Starine x. of South-Slav. Acad.). The body was removed and
burnt by the Turks in 1 595, and the building fell into ruins by the end
of the eighteenth century. Priepolje is now the southernmost point
garrisoned by Austria in the Sandiak of Novibazar.

* Mentioned by the Lib, Re/, in 1322.

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 135

the mining district of the Monte Argentaro to Toplica,
Prokoplje, and Ni§, The whole journey took fifteen
days in favourable wea ther, prom Ni§ onwards fjjfi.
R^gusan caravans followed the .£reat^ road to ^Con- ^
stantinople or went to Bulgraria, where they had con-
siderab le trade an d at least one colony at Vidin, in
consequence of the privileges obtained from the Bulgarian

Tsars,^

A nother much frequented c aravan route was that ;
whic h started at the mouth o f the Narenta and passed
t hrough Bosnia and Serv ia. Ragusan goods were trans-
ported either wholly by sea round Sabbioncello or via
Stagno to the little island of Osinj in the river delta,
where a trading depot was opened. Close by were
several other depots, the most important of which was
the Forum Narenti (called Driva by the Slaves), with
a large customs station, salt stores, and a Ragusan
colony. Later it was supplanted by the Venetian castle
of Gabela or Gabella.^ The caravans travelled from the
mo uth of the Narenta through the land of Hlum, ^
following the course of the river to Blagaj, the residence
of the lords of Hlum (afterwards Dukes of St. Saba or
the Herzegovina), above the spot where the river Buna
springs full-grown from the rocks.* The route con-
tinued up the Narenta valley, as the railway does to-day,
past Konjica, which was to play an important part in
later times, over the Ivan Pass to Vispko in the centre of

^ For this route see Benedetto Ramberti, Libri. Tre delle cost dei
Turchi^ lib. i.

^ There is still a village of that name.

' Mostar did not exist in the Middle Ages. The ruins of Blagaj still
form an imposing mass.

136 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Bosnia, the castle of the Bani. Below was the town of
Podvisoko (Sotto-Visochi in Ragusan documents), on the
banks of the river Bosna. Between 1348 and 1430 this
was the commercial capital of the country and the seat
of important trading communities. From Visoko the
routg proce eded _to Jplovo and Borag ^ near Vlasenica,^
where it bran ched off ^nto . Jthree. One led eastward to
v/ Srebrni ca, the centre of the silver-mining district^^ an d

Rudnik ; ano ther went northwards to Soli ; the main
route went to Kuflat, well known as a trading station in
the fourteenth century, with a large Ragusan colony > to
Zvomik, and a c ross the D rin a to Sirmia and Belgrad.
At Sirmia ?which was on the ruins of the Roman Syr-
mium, the Ragusans ha d a flourishing: settlement pro-
^ tected by the Kings of Hungary, until the town was

burnt by the Turks in 1396. Its importance was due
to its position as a starting point for the Ragusan traders
going to all parts of Hungary.*

These various routes were c alled cqU^

' y de Bosstna in t he Ragusan documents. The routi

V g^ar^pH from fh^ (;(^ ^st at po ints south of Ragusa were

denominated the Via de Zenta.^ Ra gusan ve ssels sailed
down the ., jCQast^ and either dischar ged their g ood s at
the towns of Antivari and Dulcigno, or sailed for some

1 The seat of feudal family of the Pavlovidi in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries.

*,.5r/^= silver in Servian.
^Slav. S. Dimitri, Dimitrovica, o r Mitrovica.

* Jire^ek, op. cit.^ pp. 75-82.

^ Zenta or Zedda was the name of a district comprising Montenegro
and that part of Albania between the lake of Scutari and the Adriatic
coast as &r as Durazzo. The anonymous writer in Matkovid {Stanne x.,
1878, of the South- Slavonic Academy) describes the Via de Zenta.

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 137

distance up the various rivers — the Bojana, the Drim, the
Mat, the ISmi, the Vrego, the Devol, and the Vojussa.
This stretch of coast, which had formed part of the
Byzantine theme of Dyrrhachium, was under Servian
rule from 11 80 to 1440.

" In Servian times," writes Prof. Jirefek,^ " this region,
now so desolate, was in the most flourishing condition,
and had a large population and numerous beautifully
situated towns. Even in the sixteenth century Italian
travellers who ascended the course of the Bojana com-
pared this green land with its many villages to their own
fair country. Large Latin and Oriental monasteries stood
peacefully side by side. Servian, Albanian, and Italian
were the principal languages spoken. The cities enjoyed
important privileges, granted by the Servian Kings, Tsars,
and Despots (later by the BalSici), and their citizens
occupied important positions in the Government service ;
the ruling princes themselves often visited these districts.
The ports plied a busy trade, for from hence goods
were transported to the Byzantine districts of Macedonia
and Thrace, as far as Bulgaria and the Mare Majus (Mar
Maggiore) as the Italians in the Middle Ages called the
Black Sea."

The chief city off the coast of Zed da was Antivari,
situated about four miles from the sea, where the open
bay of Volovica served as a harbour. Its government,
like that of Ragusa and Cattaro, was an oligarchical con-
stitution, in the hands of a numerous and active aristo-
cracy, under privileges granted by the Servian Tsars.
The citizens were of Latin origin, and Latin and Italian

* op. cit.^ p. 63.

138 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

were the official languages, but the inhabitants of the
surrounding country were Serbs. It was the centre of
the archiepiscopal see of Northern Albania. After the
Turkish conquest its importance was reduced to nily and
nearly all the noble families either died out or emigrated
to Ragusa. It is not easy to realise that the actual
Montenegrin village was once a busy commercial city.
Nothing but a few escutcheons on some of the houses
bear witness to its past magnificence.

A few miles farther south is Dulcigno,* which was
also an autonomous oligarchical Republic, albeit less
important than Antivari. Here the Roman element was
always mixed with the Albanian. After the Turkish
conquest it became a nest of pirates. Close by was the
Golfo dello Drino, into which the two rivers Bojana and
Drim (Drino) flowed. Eighteen miles up the course of
the former was the great Benedictine monastery of San
Serge and St. Bacchus, round which stood warehouses,
customs offices, salt stores, shops, and booths, forming a
centre called San Sergio by the Italians, Sveti Srgj by the
Serbs ; it retained its importance until the sixteenth
century.* At the time of Queen Helena, the widow of
Stephen Uros I., the settlement was under a '^Bajulus
Regine at Portum Sancti Sergii."* Here the ships
unloaded their cargoes, which were forwarded to all

> Ulcinium, Dulcinium ; in Slavonic, Olgun ; in Albanian, Ulkin.

' On the site of San Sergio is the village of Obotti, which has of late
acquired some prominence since an Italian steamship company has
established a service up the Bojana for developing Italian trade. An
Austrian company has imitated its example, and it seems as if there was
a chance of reviving the old trade routes once more although of course
they can never regain their old importance so long as the Turks continue
to misgovern the land. ' 1290. Jire^ek, op. ^'/., p. 65.

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 139

parts of the interior by caravan ; goods designed for
Scutari, however, were sometimes transhipped into
smaller boats and thus carried up to the lake and
town. The caravan route went past Scutari to the castle 1
of Danj (now Daino) on the Drim, where the Servian
kings sometimes resided, and where the route joined that
from Alessio (Lissos, Alexium, Slav- and Alb-Ljes * ) at '
the mouth of the Drim. Thence the caravans proceeded
to Prizren, which they reached in thirty-three hours by
a road reputed to be one of the most difficult in the
Albanian mountains.* The chief halting-places were
Pilot and Spas , where there was a custom house. Priz- V
ren, which is on the Bistrica, some distance east of the
junction of that river with the White Drim, is still a
large town, on the site of the Roman Therenda.*
Nemanja conquered it from the Eastern Empire ; in
1 204 it was in Bulgarian hands ; in the course of the
century it came once more into Servian possession, and
was one of the chief cities of the kingdom. King
Milutin and the Tsars Dusan and Uro§ frequently made
it their residence, and many ruined castles are found in
the vicinity. Here was the chief comm ercial factory of ^Ja-^^,.
the Ragusan s for A l^nia, and they erected two Latin
churches. From Prizren the routes crossed a fertile and
well-populated plain, over the watershed between the
Adriatic and the Black Sea, and into the plain of
Kossovo. At I.i plj an (Ulpiana and Justiniana Secunda

* Lissos, Alexium, in Slavonic and Albanian LjeS.
' Jirecek, pp. 66-7 ; this is now the Mirdit country.
' The name n/x(5/xdya is first mentioned as a Bulgarian bishopric
in 1026.

I40 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

in Roman times) jt crossed the route from Bosnia to
galonica ^ reached Novobrdo , and finally Sofia , one of
the Bulgarian capitals. The first mention of a Ragusan
merchant in this city is in 1376 ; the Ragusan colony
became very important at the end of the century
in Turkish times, when Sofia was the residence of the
Beglerbeg of Rumelia.*

The second V ia de ^enta started from the three
harbours of Antivari via the Sutorman Pass, Bud ua by
t he bridle palh t o Cs, ^inj e (still in use), and
ths^rQ^Ld tp^Cetinje. A little further east the three
bran ches met , and the route proceeded over well-wooded
mountains, now, alas, bare and desolate, past the ruins
/ of Doclea jo P odgorica (a day and a half from Cattaro) ;
then to the Plava lake, one of the fairest spots in Albania,
but now also one of the most dangerous, on the shores
of which, according to Professor Stojan Novakovi<f, stood
the well-known Servian trading centre of Brskovo. Pro-
fessor Jiredek, however, who has had access to further
materials, places it in the upper Lim valley. Brskovo
(Brescoa or Brescoua in Venetian and Ragusan documents)
was the chief commercial city of Servia, and is mentioned
as early as the days of King Stephen the First-Crowned
(i 196-1228). It was principally frequented by the
people of Ragusa and Cattaro, and to a lesser extent by
the Venetians. The various products of the districts
were collected here for export to the coast, while
the caravans from the coast brought foreign goods

' Jire^ek, p. 68. The Beglerbeg of Rumelia was the commander-in-
chief of the Turkish armies in Europe.

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 141

for distribution throughout Servia. The customs,
which were usually farmed out to Ragusans, were a
source of considerable revenue to the Servian kings.
Here, as in some other mining towns, was also a mint,
where the s^rossi di Brescova were coined.^ The R agusa n
colony; was numerous and influential, containing mem- ^
bers of some of the noblest families.* Beyond Brsko
came Pe^ (Ipek in Turkish), an archiepiscopal, and
later patriarchal, see (until 1766). Pec, too, enjoyed >/
considerable traffic, and had a Rayusan colony in the
fourteenth century.

The post f rom Venice to Constantinople went by
thi s route in the sixteenth century. As soon as the ship
arrived the despatches were handed to the messengers
(they were always natives from two Montenegrin villages),
who rode off with them via Plava, Pe6, Novoselo, PriS-
tina, Samokov, and Philippopolis, reaching the Bosporus
in eighteen days.*

Throu ghout S e rvia^ B osnia^ IJlum^ the Zeta, and | v
Bul garia ther e were thus iiunMx.QUS. Ragusan colonies. 1
As a rule mining was the chief industry, and it was in jy
the mming districts that the commercial settlements were !
to be found. In Roman times the mines of lUyria were
well known; they were abandoned at the time of the
barbarian inroads, and it was not until the twelfth and

^ The Servian king imitated the Venetian ducats, but with a con-
siderable amount of base metal, whence Dante's allusion to the punish-
ment awaiting '* quel di Rascia, che mal aggiust6 il conio di Vinegia^"
Paradiso^ xix. 140- 141.

' Ragusan consul at Brskovo mentioned in 1280. Its importance
ceased with the Turkish conquest.

^ Jire^ek, p. 71, Bolizza.

142 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

thirteenth centuries, at the time of the rise of the Serb
States, that the industry revived. Wonderful tales were
told by mediaeval travellers of the richness of the Balkan
mines. As late as 1453 the Greek Critobulus asserted
that gold and silver sprang from the earth like water,
and that wherever you dug you found large deposits of
the precious metals, in greater quantities than in the
Indies.^ King Stephen Uros II. Milutin (i 282-1 320)
was the first to summon in German miners, called Sasi {i.e.
Saxons), so as to benefit by their superior skill, but the
Ragusans were also numerous. Many of the technical
terms relating to mining still used in Bosnia are of
German origin : oraf = On ; hutman = HUttenmann ; karan
= Karren. The ore was extracted from galleries and
shafts, many of which are still in existence. The refining
of the metal was executed at Ragusa or Venice.

Gold, silver, lead, and iron were the chief products
of the Bosnian and Servian mines. Gold , of which the
earliest mention is in 1253, was found chiefly in the
* neighbourhood o f Novpb.rdfi.CNovus Mons, Nouomonte,
', NofioTrvpyop)y which wa s for^a Jong t ime the largest ci ty
\ in the interio r of the Balkan peninsula be tween the plain
\ of K ossovo and the Bulgar ian Morava, three miles east
of PriStina. Silver, however, was found in much larger
quantities. Of this metal two kinds are mentioned in
the Ragusan annals, i.e. argento bianco (white silver) and
argento de glama {glamsko srebro in Slavonic), which had
a slight gold alloy. Srebrnica was the chief centre for
the silver-mining industry. Lead was another important

> Critobulus, ii. 7, 8, in Fragm, Hist, Graca^ v. 109.

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 143

product, and was in much request for the roofing of
houses and churches. Sometimes a whole caravan of
300 horses journeyed from the mining districts to
Ragusa laden with nothing but lead. The iron output
gave rise to various active industries, both locally and at
Ragusa, where Bosnian iron-workers were often employed
by the Republic. A certain amount of copper was also
found, and there were tin and quicksilver mines in the
KreSevo district. The principal mining cen tres thus
were : Kre§evo and Fojnica : ^ Sreb renica, near the Drina,
chiefly for si lver:^ Zvornik on the Drina. for lead:*
Rudnik, where th ere are traces of Roman mines men-
tioned by Ragu§^Qjdocurnents_ of the thirteenth century;
Kopaonik, for silver and iron ; * Novob rdo. for gold and
other metals : ^ Ku dey o and Brskovo, which flourished at
the end of the thirteenth century,*

Each mining centre usually consisted of a castle on a
hill, wherein dwelt the Vojvod, or feudal lord, repre-
senting the King or Tsar, and a town below with a
market, where the miners and merchants dwelt. In
times of danger the whole community could take shelter
in the castle.^ The Saxons, as we have seen, were the

' First mentioned in 1349.

* First mentioned in 1376.
^ Mentioned in 141 2.

* Mentioned in 1346.
^ Mentioned in 1350.

" Jire^ek, op. a/., 41-58. A very elaborate and interesting account of
the Bosnian and Servian mines is given in this work.

' This division is reflected in the prefixes Gomji and Donji (upper
and lower)> which are frequently found attached to the names of Bosnian
and Servian towns.

144 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

most numerous of the foreign settlers, and the Ragusans
came immediately after them. At Novobrdo early in
the fifteenth century we find members of nearly all the
noblest Ragusan families — Bobali, Benessa, Menze, Rag-
nina, Resti, Gozze, Caboga, &c. The Ragusans were
the principal merchants and carriers, and the provision
trade was a lmost wholly in their hands. They sold
s upplies in exchange for raw metal. There were also
merchants from the other Dalmatian towns, from Italy,
especially from Venice, and a few natives. The mining
towns on the whole had a marked Latin character, and
they were' all provided with at least one Latin church,^
under the authority of the Bishop of Cattaro. There
were also several Franciscan monasteries, which after-
wards ministered to the religious needs of the native
Catholics in Turkish times; some of them still exist.
The chief authority in the town was, as I have said, the
Servian Vojvod, but the head of the mining and mercan-
tile community was the Conte dei Purgari Vaoturchi.
The taxes and customs were farmed to Ragusan or
Cattarine speculators, and in fact most of the higher
financial official? in the South-Slavonic States, including
the Protovestiars (Finance Ministers), were usually natives
of those cities. The Ragusans who owned houses were
bound to bear arms in defence of the castle and market-
town, but the others were exempt. If a dispute arose
between them and the Saxons or the Serbs the question

^ According to Farlati^ it is owing to the Ragusans that some traces
of Latin Christianity survived in these lands of schism and heresy.

' Purgari is evidently derived from the German word BUrger^ but
the etymology of Vaoturchi is unknown (Jire^ek).

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 145

was decided by an arbitration commission composed of
six Ragusans and six Saxons or Serbs. Ragusan creditors
enjoyed the privilege of being able to imprison their
debtors, provided they too were Ragusans, in their own
houses. The heads of the Ragusan community were the
consul and two judges, usually noblemen appointed by
the Republic. In 1332 a consul was appointed to reside
at the Royal Court, which was at Prizren or Skopje
(Oskab).^ This consul was to travel about the country,
visiting all the market-towns, mining centres, and fairs,
with a view to learning what openings there were for
Ragusan trade, as well as all the towns where Ragusan
colonies were already established. The different mints
were under the superintendence of the Vojvods and of
t\it gabellotti (tax-farmers) or aurifices (goldsmiths), usually
Ragusans or Dalmatians. In the tenth century Con-
stantine Porphyrogenitus alludes to the use of coinage
by the Ragusans, but for a long time afterwards trade
continued to be carried on by means of barter. Thus in
1280 we find a Ragusan selling a horse to a fellow-
citizen for sixteen ells of cloth, and even as late as 1322,
although mints were established in various places, a
commercial treaty between Stephen, Banus of Bosnia,
and Ragusa alludes to the fact that cattle were used for
payments of indemnities.*

Communications between Ragusa and the settlements
in the interior were carried on by means of couriers

* Lib, Ref.y March 8, 1332, p. 341.

' Miklosich, Monumenta Serbica, Codice Geno (Ragusa) ; Jire^ek, op,
cit.f p. 60.

146 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

(cursoresj corrieriy Slav, kniitnici)^ who were instituted
early in the fourteenth century, and lasted until the fall
of the Republic. They carried official correspondence
from the Republic to the ambassadors and consuls, and
legal notices, writs, reports of judicial proceedings, &c.,
to the Ragusan traders. They were not allowed to
convey private correspondence, which was usually sent
by caravan, or in the case of the chief merchants by their
own special messengers, save on the return journey.
The time employed by these official messengers was
usually two days from Ragusa to Blagaj (Mostar), four
or five to Visoko or Sutieska, five or six to PraCa, seven
or eight to Srebrnica, ten to Zvornik, twelve to Syrmium,
seven to Rudnik or Novobrdo, fifteen to Constantinople.
In bad weather, when the passes were blocked with snow,
double the time was often necessary to traverse the same
distance, which was the time required by the caravans in
favourable weather. The envoys sent to Constantinople
with the tribute to the Sultan took as much as two
months.^ The official correspondence to the various
Ragusan representatives in the East is preserved in the
archives of Ragusa in 138 volumes, under the heading of
Lettere e Commissioni di Levante.

This traffic proved to be a source of great wealth
for the citizens, who in time came almost to enjoy a
monopoly of the inland trade in this part of the Balkan
peninsula. But great as were the privileges which they
enjoyed, merchants and miners were subject to depreda-

* Jire^ek, op, cif,^ 60 ; Nicolas dc Nicolay, Navigations et peregrina-
tions orientates^ Lyon, 1 568

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 147

tions and arbitrary confiscations at the hands of the
Servian kings, the Bosnian Bani, or the various minor
feudatories. Most of the quarrels between Ragusa and
the Slavonic States were caused by these depredations,
which after all were natural enough. The Ragusan
merchants succeeded in accumulating large fortunes by
intelligent management and indefatigable industry, which
the less hard-working Slaves, devoted to the arts of war,
were incapable of acquiring. Whenever the King or
vassal lord was in need of money, what could be simpler
than to pounce down upon a richly-laden caravan on its
way to or from the coast and plunder it or take heavy
toll of it, or to impose fresh taxes on the wealthy
colonies of "Uitlanders" at Rudnik, Srebrnica, or
Brskovo.^ Ragusa was often forced to pay tribute to
this or that sovereign to ensure safety from depredation,
and in those days the line of division between, feudalism
and brigandage was very vague. But the mercantile
communities were quite willing to undergo the risks
for the sake of the large profits which they made.
There can be no doubt that in this way a certain
amount of civilisation was introduced into these lands
which would otherwise have remained quite without
the pale. The currents of western thought and culture
found their way into Bosnia and Servia by way of
Ragusa and the other Dalmatian towns rather than by
Constantinople.^ These civilising influences increased

1 In Servia, Byzantine influence was stronger and Italian- Dalmatian
influence weaker than in Bosnia, as is attested by the few surviving
churches of the pre-Turkish period. But in both countries contact with
the Adriatic towns was closer than with the Eastern Empire.

hS the republic of ragusa

and spread until the curse of the Turkish conquest
fell on the land like a blight, from which it is only
now beginning slowly and painfully to recover.

This mercantile development naturally led to the
formation of numerous guilds or confraternities. Like
other Ragusan institutions, they were based on Venetian
models, and were really the beginnings of the modem
mutual aid societies on a religious groundwork. Among
the earliest of these are that of the joiners, founded in
1266; that of St. Michael, founded in 1290; that of
the goldsmiths (1306), that of Rosgiato (1321), and
that of St. Anthony the Abbot (1348). During the
Venetian period they were under strict Government
supervision, but after 1358 they were invested with
political privileges and exemptions.^

1 Gelcich, Ragusa^ p. 32.

CHAPTER VI

ART IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH

CENTURIES

DURING the Venetian period, with the increasing
wealth and consequence of Ragusa, the city itself
was beautified by the erection of numerous
handsome buildings, both lay and ecclesiastical, and by
1358 it was almost entirely reconstructed. In its early
days the walls, the castle, and one or two churches were
the only .stone edifices ; all the rest of the town was
of timber. Throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries the defences were increased, new bastions
erected, and the older walls strengthened. The city
now occupied both the seaward ridge and the slopes
of Monte Sergio. The walls by which it was sur-
rounded climbed painfully over the rocky eminences on
each side, and dropped down almost to the sea-level
in between. The fortifications did not acquire their
present aspect until the sixteenth century, but parts of
them were begun much earlier. Four towers were
erected at the entrance of the harbour on the south-east
side of the town, of which two — San Luca and San
Giovanni — still survive. The latter, which is now called
the Forte Molo, a huge round bastion, has been con-
siderably altered in later times ; San Luca has preserved
more of its original character. Of the tower called the

I50 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Campana Morta (the dead bell)/ few traces beyond the
name survives. The sea-tower which occupies its site
is evidently of a much later date. These towers were
garrisoned by the town guard of 1 27 men, who were chosen
by lot from the citizens every month, and increased in
times of danger.* Other towers were built at intervals
along the walls, and their defence was entrusted to the
private families whose houses they adjoined. Of these
the most important was the Torre Menze or Min<feta,
one of the most beautiful features of the city. Its
erection was decreed on July 3, 1 3 1 9, but it was entirely
rebuilt in the fifteenth century, and considerably altered
in the sixteenth. It stands on one of the highest points
of the town on the Monte Sergio.

Of the other buildings of this time there are some
important remains, from which we may desume a fair
idea of Ragusan architecture under the Venetians. Its
characteristic note at all times is the fact that early forms
were preserved here, as in other parts of Dalmatia, down
to a much later date than in the rest of Europe. The
style is a mixture of Italian with an Oriental touch, and
occasionally, according to Mr. Jackson, even a German
element. During the Venetian age traces of Byzantine
art still survive, and in buildings of the fourteenth cen-
tury, a time when Italian Gothic was most flourishing,

1 So called because its bell was tolled to announce an execution of
a criminal, a proclamation of exile, or the approach of a hostile fleet
(Gelcich, op, city p. 278).

'In 1346 forty additional sentries were added and distributed among
the posts, and an extra body of archers was enrolled {Ub. Re/.^ i., March
24, p. 229). Of course when military expeditions were organised a much
larger levy was made both in the city and in the territory.

ART IN XIII. AND XIV. CENTURIES 151

we find the round arch of Romanesque art. But Ragusan
builders did not follow any very distinct system. The
various styles were no more than tapped by them. None
were fully developed; and in^very building, from which-
ever point of view we regard it, we find many deviations
from strict orthodoxy. Some of the Ragusan architects
and master-masons had been educated in Italy, others
perhaps at Constantinople, but no part of their work
shows an absolute grasp over any definite style. Never-
theless it is extremely interesting, and proves them by
no means deficient in artistic sense. Many of the build-
ings of this little Republic are of great beauty, and the
whole ensemble of edifices compares favourably with
many a more famous Italian town.

The principal buildings erected or completed between
1200 and 1350 are the following : The cathedral church
of Santa Maria (i 206-1 250), San Biagio (1348), the
church and monastery of the Franciscans (begun 13 19),
the Dominican church and monastery (i 254-1 306), the
Castello (1350, on the site of an earlier building), and the
Sponza or custom house, begun early in the fourteenth
century. The cathedral was destroyed by the earthquake
of 1667, San Biagio by fire in 1706, the Castello sup-
planted by another building in 1388. The Franciscan
and Dominican churches were almost entirely rebuilt in
later times, but of their monasteries much remains, and
the cloisters are in their original state. The Sponza,
too, survives, although the top story, the facade, and
the portico were added subsequently.

What the Duomo was like we can only discover from
the somewhat confused account of De Diversis, and from

1 52 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the model of the town in the hands of the silver statuette
of San Biagio. According to local tradition, it was erected
through the munificence of Richard GEur-de-Lion, King
of England, who on returning from the Holy Land
encountered a terrible storm off Corfu, and made a vow
that he would build a church to the Virgin on the spot
where he should first touch
land in safety. After being
tossed about for several days
he was able to land on the
island of Lacroma, near Ragusa.
In fulfilment of his vow he
built the church, at the request
of the citizens, in Ragusa itself,
as well as a small chapel on the
island. There is, however, no
evidence of the truth of this
story, and none of the contem-
porary accounts of Richard's
peregrinations even mention
^^..-K Ragusa, while the entries in

the Ragusan archives state that the church was built
with the contributions of the nobles. According to De
Diversis, it was the most beautiful church in Dalmatia.
It consisted of a nave and side aisles separated by great
columns; and from the above-mentioned model of the
city we see that it had a cupola mounted on a drum
pierced with windows and a clerestory. De Diversis also
speaks of a curious ambulatory formed by small columns
outside the church, the walls of which were ornamented
with figures of animals. In the choir was the high altar, .

ART IN XIII. AND XIV. CENTURIES 153

with a pala of silver under a beautifii! ciborium sup-
ported on four pillars. The floors were of mosaic, and
the windows alt filled with stained glass. On the walls
were depicted scenes from the Old Testament and the
New. All this bespeaks a Romanesque building with
traces of Byzantine art. But atas ! nothing remains of
this exquisite piece of architecture ; the present church
(i67i-i7i3)isa large classical
edifice with barocco ornamen-
tation.

The original church of San
Biagio was begun in 1348 as
a votive offering after the
plague of that year. From
De Diversis's description it was
very similar to the Duomo,
but on a smaller scale. It
suffered little damage from the
earthquake, but was burnt
down in 1706. Both this
church and the Duomo are

fairly good examples of an unattractive style, and the
stone of which they are built is of a rich mellow tone.

The two stately piles at each end of the town — the
Franciscan and Dominican monasteries — have fortunately
preserved much of their original character. The latter
was begun after the destruction of the first Franciscan
house outside the Porta Pile by the Slaves in 13 19, and
the new building was erected just within the gate, which
its inmates were to guard in times of danger. The
church and a large part of the monastery have been

154 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

J rebuilt since the earthquake, although here and there a

few interesting details remain. Thus on the south side,
opening on to the Stradone, there is a handsome doorway
in the Venetian Gothic style, surmounted by a PiV/^i, a
very fair piece of sculpture ; the date is probably the
end of the fifteenth century. In the sacristy we find a
Renaissance lavabo of carved stone. The campanile
marks the transition from the Romanesque to the
Gothic. The east window of the lower story and those
on the second story are Venetian Gothic, while the
south window of the lower story is round-arched. The
top story with the cupola was rebuilt after the earth-
quake. But it is in the cloister that the chief interest
of the building lies, a cloister which Mr. T. G. Jackson
calls '* one of the most singular pieces of architecture I
have ever seen."^ Here we observe the most notable
feature of Dalmatian architecture in all its force, for
although its date is later than 1319 it is thoroughly
Romanesque in character, and all the arches are round.
It consists of a courtyard with three bays opening out
into it on each side ; the openings are divided into six
round-headed lights, each head being pierced by a large
circular light. A series of coupled octagonal shafts
standing one behind the other, with a common base and
common abacus, but separate capitals, serve as mullions to
the arches. The capitals are extremely quaint and curious.
Each one is different from its fellows, and the architect
seems to have let his fancy run riot in designing them,
" recalling the wildest and most grotesque fancies of early
Romanesque work."* Some are adorned with simple

^ T. G. Jackson, Dalmatia^ the Quamero, and Istria^ ii. p. 372.

' Jackson, ibid.

ART IN XIIL AND XIV. CENTURIES 155

foliage, spiral volutes, and block leaves, but on others we
find hideous grinning faces, dragons, strange uncouth
monsters, masks, dogs, and all manner of fanciful orna-
ments. Judged by ordinary standards, we should take
them to be work of the twelfth or thirteenth century,
but as a matter of fact they are of a much later date.
According to Eitelberger, these early forms were preserved
in most of the monasteries of the East when they had given
place to Gothic in Western Europe.^ The workmanship
of these capitals, like much Ragusan carving, is somewhat
rough and unfinished, but for this the material, which is
not sufficiently hard, may be partly responsible. Of the
open circles in the heads of the opening, the centre one on
each side of the cloister is larger, and ornamented with a
rich border of acanthus leaves; the others are cusped.
Possibly it was intended that they should all contain some
ornamentation, and indeed the large round openings
look somewhat bare. Above the cloister is an elegant
balustrade, of which only one side survived the earth-
quake, but a few years ago it was restored according to
the original design. The name of the architeet has been
preserved in an inscription in the cloister itself :

+ S • DE • MAGIST
ER MYCHA PETRAR

DANTIVAR QVIPPE

CITCLAVSTRVM
CVM OMNIBVS SVIS.

He was one Mycha of Antivari, a town where
Byzantine influence was stronger than at Ragusa. The

* R. von Eitelberger von Edelberg, Die Mittelalterliche Kunsi-
denkmale Dalmaiiens, in his GcsammelU Kunsthistarische Werke^ iv.

PP- 343» 344.

156 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

inscription has no date, but it is close to .two others
of 1363 and 1428, and the style of the lettering,
according to Jackson, is even earlier than 1363. The
building was not begun until after 13199 when the
former Franciscan monastery was destroyed, so that the
date is somewhere between 13 19 and 1363. Within the
enclosure are orange trees and evergreen shrubs, and a
graceful little fountain is placed in the centre ; the whole
scene forms a most charming picture of mediaeval
monastic life. A second cloister higher up the hillside
served as a garden where the simples for the monks*
pharmacy were grown. This, too, is a delightful old-
world nook.

At the opposite end of the town, just inside the
Porta Ploce, stands the massive group of the Domini-
can church and monastery. These buildings originally
formed the southern bulwark of the town, the monks
themselves, like the Franciscans, being entrusted with the
defence of the gate ; but later a second wall was built
outside it. The church, which was begun in 1245 and
completed in 1360, consists of a vast nave separated from
a polygonal choir by a high arch. The building is ex-
tremely bare ; the traces of Gothic arches and clustered
pillars form a sort of skeleton, around which the existing
church was constructed in the seventeenth century. In
the sacristy there are a few more fragments of early work,
and the south doorway, with a round arch of many
receding orders under an ogee crocketed hood mould,
also belongs to the original church. Jackson notices a
strong flavour of German Gothic in it. There are several
pointed windows of extreme simplicity, and a large round

ART IN XIIL AND XIV. CENTURIES 157

one decorated with an outside frill of small Venetian
arches. The campanile was begun in 1424^ by Fra
Stefano, a Dominican, but it was not completed in 1440,
for De Diversis says of it, " nondum perfectum, in dies
crescit.** It has round arches and shafts set back to the
centre of the wall.

But as in the Franciscan monastery, the cloister is
almost untouched. It is an irregular square, with five
bays on each side, each bay being divided by three lights,
the head pierced by two irregular lights above. The style
is a curious medley " of Gothic and Renaissance, of forms
understood and otherwise, as indeed could only occur in a
land which, being on the borders of Eastern and Western
culture, did not possess the power to create and execute
the various styles correctly." * The arches of the bays
are round, but the inside work has more the character of
Venetian Gothic, especially in the foliage. The shield of
the semicircular head is pierced by quatrefoil lights en-
circled alternately with an ornament of interlacing circles
almost Byzantine in character. The Dalmatian architect
had doubtless seen Gothic work in Italy, but ** had failed
to grasp the idea of receding orders in the arch, or con-
sistent mouldings in his tracery.*'* The columns with
their caps and bases are of a severely antique character.
But in spite of all deviations from architectural orthodoxy
this cloister, set off by cherry and orange trees and ever-
green shrubs, is, after the Franciscan cloister, one of the
loveliest monastic buildings in Dalmatia.

The secular buildings, with one notable exception,

^ Gelcichy Ragusa^ 17, 23. ' Eitelberger, op* cit,^ p. 334.

' Jackson, ibid.

158 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

belong to a later period. The exception is the Sponza ^
or custom house, a large part of which was built in the
early fourteenth century. It stands at the end of the
Stradone, opposite the Piazza and the church of San
Biagio, and consists of three stories built round a court-
yard. The ground floor and first floor were probably
built in the first years of the thirteenth century.* The
top story, the facade, and the portico belong to the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The oblong courtyard
is surrounded on the lower story by vaulted arcades of
round arches with square sofifits supported on short plain
solid octagonal columns, without bases (like those of
the Ducal Palace at Venice), and short capitals opening
out into square abaci. The second stpry is also arcaded,
and has twice as many window openings as the lower
story has arches, round at the two ends and pointed on
the sides, with square piers over the columns below and
round columns over the centres of the arches ; their
capitals are adorned with foliage, some d crochet^ and
some with deflected leaves at the angles. According to
Jackson, all this part is of the same period, in spite of
the fact that some of the openings are round and some
pointed. The general effect is one of extreme simplicity
and sobriety ; it is, as Jackson says truly, ** an admirable
piece of plain, useful, and not ungraceful architecture, not
too showy for the commonplace purposes of the building,

' The word sponza was also applied to open loggie, built on the
borders of the Republic as resting-places for the caravans. One of these
existed at S. Michele della Cresta (1356), and another by the Canale di
Narenta (Gelcich, p. 73).

^ De Diversis says it was enlarged in 13 12.

ART IN XIII. AND XIV. CENTURIES 159

and yet well proportioned and carefully built." ^ Round
the courtyard are the various warehouses, over the doors
of which are the names of different saints. Above the
end arch is the inscription : —

FALLERE NRA VETANT ET FALLI PONDERA MEQ.
PONDERO CVM MERGES PONDERAT IPSE DEVS.

The early work ends with the moulded stringcourse
above the second story ; the third story, which has
plain square windows, bears the date 1520 and the mono-
gram IHS, found on so many houses in Ragusa, to com-
memorate the earthquake of that year. The fa9ade has
a portico of five handsome round arches in the Renais-
sance style, the columns of which are adorned with
elaborate capitals ; many of these have been renewed.
Above is a row of windows in the purest Venetian style
of the fifteenth century. The central window is a three-
light aperture, the two side ones are of a single light.
The windows of the third story are square like those
looking on the courtyard. In the centre is a niche with
a statue of St. Blaize, while the row of pinnacles on the
roof call to mind many a Venetian palazzo. In spite of
all incongruities the Sponza is a very attractive building,
full of quaint grace and good work.

It has many interesting associations with Ragusan
history. It was here that the caravans about to start on
their perilous journeys through the wild Balkan lands
formed up, and those which arrived at Ragusa first
stopped. Every bale of goods arriving at or departing
from the city, by sea or land, had to be first examined at

' op, cit,^ ii. 360.

i6o THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the Sponza, where the proper amount of duty was assessed
and paid. All business was transacted at or around this
building. To this day it serves as a custom-house, and
still forms a picturesque background for the crowds of
peasants and traders from all parts of Dalmatia, the
Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania who congregate
here on market days, although the traffic has declined
both in bulk and in value since the palmy days of the
Republic. The first floor was used in later years for
literary and learned societies and entertainments. The
second floor was the mint.

Of the Castello no traces now remain, its place having
been taken by the Rector's Palace, with which we shall
deal later on. The buildings we have described were
almost the only stone edifices in the town. All the rest,
including the convent of the Clarisse, founded in 1290,
were of timber.^ Ragusa was in great part destroyed by
fire in 1292, and rebuilt shortly afterwards, mostly of
wood, as before. In a Reformatio of 1320 the Govern-
ment published a decree against the excessive use of
timber in construction. But the city was improving in
various ways. The streets were wider and more regular,
and stone steps were built on either side of the Stradone
to make the higher quarters more accessible. Elaborate
rules were issued to ensure the solidity of the roofs and
chimneys, and by 1355 ^^^ town was paved with brick.*
The steep streets on the seaward ridge and on the eight
slopes of Monte Sergio began to assume their present
aspect, although but few details of fourteenth-century
domestic architecture have remained. There are several

' Gelcich, p. 19. ' IbiiLi p. 20.

ART i6i

houses in the Venetian Gothic style, but these were built
during the Hungarian occupation, the artistic influence
of Venice outlasting her political suzerainty.

Of the plastic arts we find as yet only slight begin-
nings, but we may mention a few early paintings in the
Dominican church. A large crucifix in the Byzantine
style, which hangs over the choir arch, was vowed during
the black death of 1348. In the sacristy there is a
polyptych in ten sections, with the Baptism of Christ
in the centre of the lower row, and St. Michael, St.
Nicholas, St. Blaize, and St. Stephen ; the Virgin, with
St. Peter, St. Dominic, St. Peter Martyr, and St. Francis
above. The work is very primitive; but if it be by a
local master, it is probably of a later date than the style
suggests. The robes are very rich and profusely gilt,
but the eff^ect is garish rather than brilliant, although
restoration may perhaps be responsible for this. A
Byzantine Madonna and Child in red is in the same
church between the nave and the transept.

In the city records there are occasional entries allud-
ing to the engagement of painters, and in 1344 a certain
Magister Bernardus was commissioned to paint the new
hall of the communal palace, which he was to decorate
" pomis et stellis auratis.'* No trace of this work has
survived.

An interesting piece of sculpture is the bas-relief of
St. Blaize on a wall near the Porta Ploce. The figure
is seen in profile, and carries a crozier with a Lamb in
the crook. It is somewhat stifF and Oriental in pose, but
full of character. Curiously enough, it is the only really
good statue of the city's patron saint at Ragusa. Other

r
/

I <

162 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

images may be seen over the gates, on the fortifications,
and on various buildings, but they are all colourless and
of very rough workmanship. A plaque of marble, with
figures in high relief, in the sacristy of the Franciscan
church, deserves notice. It is said to be thirteenth-
century work of the Isola di Mezzo.

During the next two hundred years architecture at-
tains to its full development, and at least one painter
arises whose work is of considerable value, while the
goldsmith's and silversmith's art come to occupy an
important place.

CHAPTER VII

RAGUSA UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY—
THE TURKISH INVASION, 1358-1420

BY the treaty of 1358 the whole eastern shore of
I the Adriatic as far as Durazzo was ceded to
Hungary, but as a matter of fact that Power only
extended its occupation as far as Ragusa. Not having
a strong fleet, King Louis feared that the more southern
cities would be difficult to hold, and he therefore never
exercised his treaty rights over them. Venice, having
lost with Dalmatia her chief naval base, turned her
attention towards Albania and the adjoining Slavonic
countries. She had at one time occupied Durazzo
( 1 205-1 208), and through her colonies in Dalmatia had
come into contact with the Albanians. Now that her
influence in the former country was destroyed, and that
she had lost a large part of her mainland possessions,
the population devoted itself to "the bee-like task of
accumulating wealth and extending its commerce." ^
Relations were once more established with Albania, trade
with that country was encouraged, and the foundations
were laid for the revival of Venetian influence in the
Adriatic*

The conditions of the Slavonic states behind Dalmatia

^ Horatio Brown's l^emce, p. 212. * Geldch, La Zedda^ Pre&ce.

t63

1 64 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

were at this time extremely disturbed. During the
brilliant reign of Stephen DuSan, the Servian people were
at the height of their greatness and power. Macedonia,
Albania, and other parts of the Greek Empire, and a
part of Bosnia, as well as Servia proper, acknowledged
the rule of the Servian Tsar, and even Bulgaria paid him
tribute. The great position of Servia under this ruler
is not usually appreciated by historians of the Eastern
Empire. DuSan, as Professor Bury observes,^ was not
only a great warrior, but a great legislator, and drew
up the Zakonik or code of laws, comparable with that
of Jaroslav for Russia. Had he lived a few years longer,
and been able to crush the turbulence of his feudal
vassals and consolidate his possessions, Kossovo might
never have taken place, and the Balkans never have been
• subjected to the horrors of the Turkish conquest. But
on his death in 1355 the whole fabric of his Empire split
up into a number of separate principalities. He was
succeeded by his son, Uro§ IV. (i 355-1 367), who was
not strong enough to carry on his father's work, and
the Magnates and governors soon began to show signs
of insubordination. Not only had he to deal with in-
ternal discontent, but he was also attacked by foreign
neighbours. In 1358 Louis of Hungary made war upon
him with such success that he conquered the erstwhile
Hungarian district of Madva,* south of the Save, and
placed Nicholas of Gara to rule over it.*

The most powerful Servian Magnates were the brothers

1 Note to Gibbon's Decline and Fall^ vol. vi. p. 50a
* The " Machova " of the Ragusan documents.
' Klaid, p. 197.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 165

VukaSin and UljeSa MrnjavCid, Knez^ Lazar Grebljanovid,
who was afterwards to achieve immortal fame on the field
of Kossovo, Vuk Brankovi<5, the brothers BalSa, and Knez
Vojslav Voinovi<5. This last and the BalSas obtained
their independence during the lifetime of Uros. In 1367
the last of the Nemanjas died, murdered, it is said, by
Vuka§in*s followers while out hunting. VukaSin him-
self, who had been greatly favoured by Du§an and
appointed, by the terms of the Tsar's will, chief State
Councillor to Uro§, succeeded to the throne. But this
only hastened the disruption of the Empire, for Knez
Lazar, Vuk Brankovi<5, and Nicholas Altomanovic (the
Governor of the Danubian provinces) rose against him,
and not only proclaimed their own independence, but
occupied part of his immediate possessions.*

Of the various states into which the Servian Empire
split up the first to be formed was the Zedda, ruled
by the Balsa family. These were, according to some
authorities, of French origin, and according to others
were descended from the Nemanjas.' A Bal§a had served
in DuSan's armies, and was afterwards made governor
of the Zedda. In a privilege of 1360, in which Stephen
Uro§ IV. grants trading rights in his states to the
Ragusans, the " Zedda of BalSa " is mentioned, showing
that the province was still under Servian suzerainty.
It consisted of the region round the lake of Scutari,

^ Knez means lord or count.

* The decadence of Servia can be traced in the titles of its rulers.
Uro§ IV. was the last Tsar, VukaSin was only Krai or king, and his son
was Marko Kraljevid, " the King's son."

' Du Cange, Farlati, Lenormant, and Rovinski take the first view,
Gelcich {La Zedda^ p. 28) and Safaiik the second.

1 66 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

i.e. of part of Montenegro and Northern Albania; it
is, in fact, another name for the ancient Doclea.^ It was
always regarded with especial affection by the Nemanjas
as their original home, and in 1195 they made it into
a Grand County. The first BalSa died in 1361, leaving
three sons, Stra^imir, George, and BalSa II., and a
daughter. The sons reigned jointly, the eldest being
merely " primus inter pares." * They at once began to
aspire to become independent of Servian authority and to
expand their own territories. Their first move was an
alliance with Ragusa, who made them honorary citizens
of the Republic. Between 1362 and 1370 they conquered
Scutari and threw off all allegiance to DuSan's successor.

South of the Zedda lies Albania proper. Formerly
a province of the Eastern Empire, it had first been con-
quered by Charles of Anjou (1266), then by Stephen
Uro§ II. Milutin, and then again by Philip of Taranto
for the Angevins. Finally, after many vicissitudes, it
came under the rule of the native prince Charles Topia,
who, after he had captured Durazzo from the Neapolitans
in 1364, made himself master of the whole of Middle
Albania and independent of Servia. In Southern Albania
and Macedonia other vassal nobles, such as the Gropa
of Ochrida, Radoslav Hlapa in the Verria district, and
Alexander at Avlona, rose to power.

In the immediate hinterland of Ragusa was the land
of Hlum, ruled by Knez Vojslav Voinovid, who owed
allegiance both to the Servian Tsar and to the Banus
of Bosnia. He too after DuSan's death made himself

^ It is sometimes called Zenta or Zeta.

' This form of succession was a very usual one in the Serb lands.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 167

independent of his successor, and with Hungarian help
also of the Banus. His territory extended from the
Servian Morava by Senice and Gacko to Cattaro and
Ragusa, and included the coast between those two towns.
He was the bitterest enemy of the Ragusans, and never
ceased from molesting them. He is described in their
chronicles and documents as a "homo perfidus," who
" tamquam infidelis male servat fidem." ^ On his death
in 1363 he was succeeded by his nephew Nicholas
Altomanovi<5, who fixed his headquarters at the im-
portant commercial town of Rudnik.

Stephen Tvrtko, Banus of Bosnia, profited by the
break-up of Servia to consolidate his own possessions.
He had come to the throne in 1353, and sided with
Hungary in the war against Venice and the Serbs. Ap-
parently some of his Magnates were inclined to rebellion
and encouraged in their disloyalty by the Tsar DuSan,
who thus hoped to annex the whole Banate ; in this he
might have succeeded had he not been cut off by death
while on the march to Constantinople (Dec. 20, 1355).
But as soon as the power of Servia was broken, Louis
of Hungary changed his policy towards Bosnia, and
obliged Tvrtko to agree to very onerous conditions.
His possession of the Banate was recognised, but he had
to give up his rights over Hlum to Elizabeth, Louis's
wife.* At the same time he was reduced to the position
of a vassal of Hungary, and various feudal lords on the
frontier were encouraged to shake off their allegiance to
him. A general rising of the Bosnian barons ensued,

' Gelcich, La Zedda, p. 13 ; Jire^ek, Handelssirasseftf p. 36 sqq.
' These were allowed to lapse in favour of Vojslav Voinovid .

1 68 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

and the sect of the Bogomils, taking advantage of this
state of anarchy, became so influential that Pope Innocent
VI. proclaimed a crusade against them early in 1360.
This was more than Louis had bargained for, and he
sent an army into Bosnia (June 1360) which put down
the revolt and restored Tvrtko's authority. Another
rebellion broke out in 1365, and Tvrtko was driven
from the country and forced to apply once more for
Hungarian help ; a small contingent was granted to him,
and after severe fighting he managed to regain the throne
in 1366; his brother Vuk, a Bogomil, who had been
among the rebels, fled to Ragusa. Shortly after Tvrtko
visited that city in full state, accompanied by a train
of nobles, confirmed all the privileges granted to it by
his uncle Stephen, and contracted a treaty of perpetual
alliance with the Republic, " save for what shall do injury
to the honour of the King of Hungary." ^ But he failed
to achieve the main object of his visit, viz. the sur-
render of Vuk. The Ragusans refused to give him up,
and on becoming a Catholic he enlisted the sympathy of
the Pope (Urban V.) for his claims to the Bosnian throne.
But Louis of Hungary would not support him, having
turned his attention to Poland, of which country he
hoped to become king. Tvrtko was thus able to enjoy
a period of peace, and to consolidate his somewhat dis-
turbed Banate.

The Republic of Cattaro continued to remain in a
state of semi-independence. It was usually on good
terms with Venice, and the town contained a flourishing
commercial colony of Venetians. Ensconced in the deep

^ Miklosich, Monumenta Serbica^ p. 176.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 169

and well-sheltered inlet known as the Bocche di Cattaro,
its trade was active and its mercantile fleet large. Its
relations with Ragusa were characterised by mutual
jealousy, owing partly to commercial rivalry (especially
on account of the disputed salt monopoly), and partly
to the intrigues of Venice, who wished to prevent all
possible coalitions of the Dalmatian townships against
her own supremacy.^

A new Power now makes its appearance as a factor
in the history of Europe, the Ottoman Turks, who
were destined in the space of two centuries to conquer
the whole of the Balkan peninsula, a large part of
Dalmatia, and nearly the whole of Hungary, humbling
that kingdom to the dust. The Serbs and other South
Slavonic peoples by their civil wars and mutual jealousies
prepared the way for their greatest enemy and that of all
Christendom. In these events the part played by Ragusa
was a curious one. At one moment the Republic actually
tried to arbitrate in the quarrels of the Servian princes
and to induce them to unite against the invader. But \
from the point of view of general European history its \
chief interest lies in the action of its Government in ob-
taining information as to the movements of the Turkish
armies. The Ragusans were subsequently on good terms
with the Turks, and permitted to visit all parts of the
Empire, even when other Europeans were excluded.
Ragusan merchants and agents sent home despatches
which are preserved in the city records, and in them we
can follow the Turkish conquest step by step, as city

^ Gelcich, La Zedda^ p. 14 ; also his Memoire storiche sulle Bocche di
Cattaro,

I70 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

after city, province after province, was first raided,
then rendered tributary, and finally absorbed into the
Sultan's dominions. This is not the place to tell the
story of the conquest, but it will be well to remind
the reader of a few of its more important events and
dates.

The first Turkish invasion of Europe occurred in
1 34 1, when Oman crossed the Bosporos to intervene
in the civil wars of the Eastern Empire. Several minor
raids followed, while the Emir Orchan (i 326-1 360),
who may be regarded as the founder of the Ottoman
power, established his capital at Brusa. In 1358 his son
Suleiman again invaded Europe, and the Chersonnese
was soon filled with colonies of Ottomans.^ In 1359
Gallipoli, "the key of Europe,** was occupied and
rebuilt as a Turkish town. In 1360 both Orchan and
his son Suleiman died, and his second son Murad suc-
ceeded to the throne. The latter in the following year
captured Adrianople, which henceforward was to be the
seat of the Turkish Government, and the headquarters
for the attacks on the Greek Empire, the Serbs, and the
Bulgarians. In 1370 a Turkish army of 70,000 men
under Murad spread into Macedonia, but was driven
back by the Serbs under King VukaSin and his brother
UljeSa. He advanced again the following year, and
encountered the Serbs at Cernomen,^ on the right bank
of the Marica, a day's march from Adrianople. The
Serbs won in the first instance, but during the night the
Turks rallied, and inflicted a terrible defeat on them.

^ Gibbon's Decline and Fall^ Bur/s edition, vol. vii. pp. 29-31.
' The ancient Tainaros, now called Cinnen.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 171

VukaSin and his brother fell with the flower of the
Servian chivalry.^ The Turks now overran Macedonia
and Servia, and forced Marko Kraljevic, VukaSin*s eldest
son, and other Slave princes to pay tribute to them.
The vassals who had hitherto obeyed VukaSin now
rebelled against his son, and the Servian Empire was "'
definitely broken up, while the Turks became ever more
powerful.

The exchange of Hungarian supremacy in the place i
of that of Venice brought about less change in the
internal situation of Ragusa than might have been
expected, but the dignity of the Republic was enhanced
by the further extension of its autonomy, for it now
becomes to all intents and purposes an independent
State. When the last Venetian Count departed a com-
mission of three Rectors, elected by the citizens, was
appointed to carry on the aflFairs of the Government, and
they were to be changed every two months. But a few
months later the number was reduced to one,* and his
tenure of ofiice limited to one month. Formerly, in the
periods during which Ragusa had been independent, the
ruler of the State had held ofiice for six months, and
had enjoyed considerable authority. But the example of
Damiano Juda had made the citizens chary of entrusting
their destinies to a too powerful magistrate, and they
now curtailed his initiative till he became a mere figure-
head. His chief duties were the safe-keeping of the
keys of the castles and of the State seals, the summoning

* Klaid, p. 199 ; Gelcich, La Zedda^ p. 8a

' After the year 1358 the Reformationes allude to the Rector^ and no
longer to the Rectores.

I I

172 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

of the Grand Council, the Senate, and the Minor Council,
and the proposal of the aflairs to be discussed in these as-
semblies, in which, however, he himself had only one vote.
During his brief tenure of office he might never leave his
official residence save in full state, i.e. accompanied by
twenty-four retainers attired in scarlet, two musicians,
and all the chief secretaries and palace functionaries.
His own robe was like that of a Venetian senator.
Under these circumstances we can hardly imagine him
taking much pleasure in a quiet walk for a breath of
fresh air. If he was ill or excluded from the Council
"in his own interest or in that of his relations,"^ his
place was taken by the senior member of the Minor
Council. If he died while in office he was borne to the
grave on the shoulders of the nobles, the bell of the
Palace tolled, and the city gates were closed. In 1441
Ladislas, King of Hungary, conferred upon the chief
magistrate of Ragusa the title of Arch-Rector, which was
confirmed by King Matthew Corvinus in 1463, but the
Senate refused to allow him to use it, lest it should
inspire him with dangerous ambitions! He was, how-
ever, permitted to accept the knighthood of the Golden
Spur with which he had been invested by the same
monarch. No other important changes were made in
the constitution from this date until the fall of the
Republic.

Ragusa*s international position, however, was now
considerably altered. The King of Hungary allowed
the citizens the most absolute liberty to manage their

^ Lf, when his own acts or the election of one of his relatives was
under discussion.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 173

own affairs, and not only had he no Hungarian repre-
sentative in the town, but he did not even attempt to
interfere indirectly with the Government. Ragusa was
merely bound to pay him a tribute and to provide a
naval contingent in time of war on the terms set forth
in the treaty of ViSegrad. She always remained the faith-
ful friend and ally of Hungary, and was quite content
to render this not very onerous allegiance ; in her re-
lations with that Power there was no trace of the constant
recriminations and bickerings that there were with Venice.
The reason of this difference of feeling towards the two
Powers lies in the character of Venetian as compared .
with Hungarian policy. Venice was ever extending her
influence down the Adriatic coast, consolidating her
dominion, and destroying local autonomies. Above all,
Venice was a great maritime Power and could swoop
down on Ragusa or any other Adriatic town with her
swift galleys at any moment; commercial rivalry, too,
had its effect, for Venice aspired to the monopoly of the
same trades as those in which Ragusa dealt. Hungary, '
on the other hand, was purely a military State. Its aims
were internal consolidation and the security of its own im-
mediate frontiers. It did not aspire to distant dominions,
as it had no powerful navy, and it merely desired to
possess Dalmatia so as to secure a wider outlet to the
sea than the Croatian coast; and it had no sea-borne
trade to interfere with that of Ragusa. On the land
side it wished to secure the allegiance of the Bosnian
Banus, but there was little danger of its establishing an
absolute sway over the Slave lands immediately behind -
Ragusa.

174 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

The Ragusans now set to work to consolidate their
independence and develop their trade, but they were not
destined to enjoy a long period of absolute peace. Their
first quarrel was with Vojslav Voinovid, Count of Hlum
("Comes Chelmi Magnus Procer Imperatoris Sclavoniae").^
Early in 1359 the Republic sent an envoy to him, offer-
ing to pay a sum of 4000 ipperperi as tribute due to the
Emperor of Slavonia; but shortly after he raided the
Ragusan districts of Astarea and Gionchetto, burned the
houses and churches, cut down the vineyards, took a
number of prisoners, and arrested the Ragusan traders
in his territories. Vojslav was known to be meditating
an expedition against Stagno and even Ragusa, so that
defensive measures were taken. All the city gates ex-
cept two were walled up, a special guard of night watch-
men was formed, troops and sailors levied throughout
the Republic*s dominions, and a band of mercenaries was
raised at Curzola with the permission of the Venetian
Count for the defence of Stagno. A master-mechanic
was sent for from Messina to superintend the war engines,
and a master-crossbowman from Italy. In the mean-
while the Senate sent envoys to the King of Hungary
and to his lieutenant the Banus of Croatia and Dalmatia,
complaining of Vojslav*s conduct, and asking for assist-
ance against him.' He was described as being *^ like a
wolf who wishes to devour us lambs,**' and a price of
10,000 ipperperi was put on his head the following year.*

* Ref,^ ii., January 1359.

* Diphm. Ragus.^ 1359, 4i 5> 8; 1360, 12 ; 1361, 20.
» Ref.j 1360, Feb.

* Ref, Cons. Maj,^ 1361, July i.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 175

Ragusa also tried to resort to another measure against
Vojslav. The latter*s territory reached as far as the
neighbourhood of Cattaro, which town served him as a
port. Ragusa now proposed an alliance with the dt-
tarini, and suggested that they should break ofF all
relations with the lord of Hlum and cease to provide
him with provisions and salt. But Cattaro was unable
to accede to this plan from fear of Vojslav*s power.
Ragusa then determined to punish that town, and made
an alliance to this end with the Balsas, lords of Zedda.
Negotiations were opened with the Servian Tsar Uro§
and with his most powerful vassals, and envoys were
sent to the King of Bosnia and to Sanko to arrange a
plan of campaign against Hlum. Operations began by
sea, and on July 6, 1631, Ragusa itself appears to have
been attacked by Vojslav*s ships.^ The Republic con-
fiscated the money which that prince had deposited in
the town,* and a naval expedition was fitted out to
operate against Cattaro and raid the Bocche. Raids
were also made into Vojslav*s territories on the land side,
and doubtless the Ragusans were able to pay their enemy
back in his own coin. The quarrel with Cattaro and
Vojslav lasted nearly two years, and only ended through
Venetian and Servian mediation.

According to some authorities' Vojslav died in 1363,
and was succeeded by his cousin Nicholas Altomanovid ;
according to others * in 1 37 1 . The latter date is probably

» Ref,^ 1361, July.

' The Slaves used Ragusa as their banking centre.

» Jire^ek, p. 36.

^ .Gelcich, Bcdioy genealog. table.

176 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the correct one, the confusion having arisen from the
fact that Nicholas came to reign jointly with his brother
in 1363 or 1364, and after that date we find them both
mentioned in the Ragusan documents. This system of
dual or plural sovereignty, prevalent in Servian lands,
\ caused much trouble, and also weakened the resistance
; against the Turkish invaders, as the rival princes were
always quarrelling among themselves and intriguing with
outside foes against each other. At this time a coalition
of a number of Servian princelings and nobles against
others was formed, and produced the most fatal conse-
quences by breaking up the organisation of the country.
During this war the Bal§as, in order to consolidate their
power, began to make political and commercial alliances
with their neighbours. For this purpose they applied to
Ragusa, requesting the honour of Ragusan citizenship for
themselves. The Senate was well pleased to accede to
this desire, as the Republic was feeling by no means safe
from Vojslav, and Hungarian help delayed in coming,
A treaty of offensive and defensive alliance was con-
cluded, by which it was agreed that the BalSas should
attack dttaro, Vojslav's ally, by land and the Ragusans
by sea. The Ragusan envoy, Clemente Dersa, informed
the Balsas that Vojslav was meditating a coup de main on
Budua, and that this would be a serious menace to their
territory. Budua is a small town on the Adriatic, just
south of the entrance to the Bocche di Gittaro. It is
of ancient origin, and has one of the earliest municipal
statutes in existence.^ It was under the direct protection
of the Servian Tsars, who were represented by a castellano^

^ Monutnenta Histor.-Jurid, Slav. Mer.^ i., Agram, 1882.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 177

and independent of the vassal feudatories. Ragusa had
had a quarrel with the town in 1359 owing to the alleged
acts of piracy committed by its inhabitants, but afterwards
peace was made when Budua became in a manner subject
to the BalSas and helped them in their revolt against
Servia. During the hostilities the dttarini besieged
Budua and nearly captured it, taking a number of
prisoners in the sorties, until a Ragusan flotilla came
to the rescue and drove them back.^ In April 1362
Ragusan ships blockaded Cattaro by sea, while the
Balsas attacked it by land.* During these hostilities the
Ragusans captured the property of some Venetian mer-
chants as contraband of war, and this caused further
unpleasantness with Venice. Cattaro then requested Vene-
tian mediation, and in January 1362 Paolo Quirini and
a Hungarian representative were sent to Dalmatia to
arbitrate, but without success. At last, in August, the
Servian Tsar intervened, and on August 22 peace was
signed at Onogost.* All parties regained their former
privileges, prisoners were liberated, and compensation
paid for injuries. The chief result for Ragusa was the
introduction of the plague from the lands beyond the
mountains.* The BalSas, however, were able to extend
their territory along the coast as far as Dulcigno, and in
1367 the dignity of warden of Budua passed to George
BalSa, and he and his brothers thenceforward styled
themselves " magnificent barons of Maritime Slavonia."

* Mon, Rag,^ iii.

' Ref,^ ii. pp. 276-280 ; Lett e Comm, di Lev, 1350-80, Aug. 31, 1359;
Gclcich, Balia^ pp. 33-37 ; Ref,^ iii. 9i> 9^, 99 ; iv. 24, 117, 133-4, I39, I40-
' Now Mi^si^, in Montenegro. See Miklosich, Mon, Serb,^ p. 169.

* Gclcich, Batia^ p. 38.

• »

178 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

They were now able to negotiate with Venice, and
became an important Power in the Adriatic. This
ultimately proved advantageous for the Ragusans, to
whom they granted many privileges and opened the
trade routes up the rivers of Northern Albania. They
also obtained for the Republic from the Servian Tsar the
full possession of the island of Meleda.^

But the peace failed to prevent the molestations of
the lawless Count of Hlum, Nicholas Altomanovid In
April 1 37 1 * the Ragusans wrote to the King of Hungary
complaining of his raids, and describing him as "the
worst of all the Rascian barons, although they are all
false and infamous." Not content with the gifts they
had made to him, he had demanded the tribute due to
the Servian Tsar, and on their refusal he invaded their
territory and tortured the prisoners he made by pouring
boiling lard over them. The Ragusans added that the
Banus of Ma^va, who was the King of Hungary*s vassal,
had done nothing to restrain Altomanovid, but was
secretly his friend. The whole of the interior being in
a state of anarchy, inland trade was almost at a stand-
still, and the Republic requested the King to intercede
with the Pope for the renewal of the licence to send two
ships every year to the lands of the Infidel.

The Ragusan forces, however, managed on several
occasions to defeat the bands of Altomanovid, and later
in the year the Republic joined the alliance of Knez
Lazar and Tvrtko, Banus of Bosnia, against that prince.
The latter now had won the Bal§as to his side by the
gift of Canali, Trebinje, and Dra&vica, but the coalition

* Gelcich, BoHa^ p. 53. ' Diplom, Rag,^ 42.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 179

succeeded in conquering a large part of his possessions.
Knez Lazar occupied Rudnik, and Tvrtko the upper
valley of the Drina, and drove George BalSa from Tre-
binje. The King of Bosnia's possessions were thus ex-
tended by 1376 over the greater part of the Servian
lands as far as Trebinje, Cattaro, and NikSid in the
south, to Senice in the east, and included the important
monastery of MileSevo, where St. Sava, the Apostle of
the Serbs, was buried.^ He was now the most powerful
ruler in this part of the Balkans, and had himself crowned
at MileSevo with two crowns, styling himself "Stephen
Tvrtko in the name of Our Lord Christ King of Servia
and Bosnia and the Primorije (coast land).**^ Ragusa
was the first State to recognise him, and proved quite
willing to pay the 2000 ipperperi a year due to him as
lord of Servia.

The Ragusan Senate had the foresight to understand
the growing importance of the Ottoman Turks, and
having obtained from Urban V. an exemption to trade
with the Infidel, it contracted commercial agreements
with the Sultans of Egypt, Syria, and Konia in 1359,
and in 1365 obtained from the Sultan Murad a firman
granting the citizens of Ragusa freedom to trade in all
parts of the Ottoman dominions and protection for their
commercial factories, in exchange for a yearly tribute
of 500 ducats. Ragusa was thus the first Christian
State to make a treaty with the Ottoman Turks, and its
citizens were enabled to penetrate into the remotest parts
of the Turkish Empire and form permanent settlements
there at a time when other Christians were either excluded

^ Klaid, p. 200 ; Jire^ek, pp. 36-37.

' Klaid, p. 200.

i8o THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

altogether or limited to a few coast towns. The tribute
which they paid for these advantages, although often raised

^ subsequently, proved a most profitable investment.

In 1378, in consequence oFtlie Tritflgttcs""^ Venice
and Genoa to obtain a predominant position at Constan-
tinople, war broke out between the two Republics — the
famous Chioggia war — in which Ragusa too was involved.
The Genoese induced Francesco Carrara, lord of Padua,
who had been humbled but not subdued by Venice, to
join them, and further help was obtained from Louis
of Hungary. Ragusa, as vassal of that potentate, joined
the coalition. But Venice, undismayed, made all pre-
parations for war, and invested Vettor Pisani with the
supreme command at sea. A Venetian victory off Cape
Antium was won on May 30, and Pisani took Sebenico
and Cattaro by storm; these and other towns on the
Adriatic coast which his garrisons occupied were harried
and blockaded by Ragusan vessels, who also seized this

^ opportunity to destroy the salt-pans of Cattaro, thus
ridding the Republic of a dangerous competitor.^ The
Ragusans were in great fear of an attack by the Venetian
fleet, and made desperate efforts to strengthen the de-
fences of the town and of Stagno. They also asked for
assistance from Tvrtko, King of Bosnia, who oflTered
them a contingent ; but on hearing that he was treating
with the Venetians, possibly with a view to a move
against Ragusa, they refused it. On October 14, 1378,
the Genoese fleet under Fieschi put in at Ragusa,' where
a Ragusan galley joined it, and the admiral received two
bombards and a present of money from the Republic.

* Gelcich, Ragusa^ p. 44- * R^f-^ iv., Oct 14, 1378.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 18 1

Armed barques issued forth from the town to scour the
Adriatic and obtain news of the movements of the Vene-
tian fleet, which were at once transmitted to the Banus
of Dalmatia and Croatia at Zara, while privateers cruised
about to plunder the enemy's merchantmen. Ragusan
ships were, in fact, the eyes of the allied fleet.

The Senate sent a squadron out under Stefano Sorgo
to capture all Venetian or Cattarine ships found in South
Dalmatian waters,^ while envoys went to Cattaro to stir
up the people to rebel against Venice and return to
Hungarian allegiance. But the Cattarini, still fearing
the Venetians, at first refused. Then a joint Genoese
and Ragusan fleet made a demonstration against the
town, and the authorities promised to raise the Hun-
garian standard on a certain date. But they failed to
do so, and intrigued instead with the King of Bosnia
against Ragusa, plundered Ragusan grain ships, and cap-
tured the sentinels guarding the approaches to the city
on the Monte Sergio. After the total defeat of the
Venetian fleet ofi^ Pola in May the Ragusans pursued
their operations against Cattaro by land and sea with
renewed vigour, and by June 26 the town had once more
returned to Hungarian allegiance.*

Meanwhile the Genoese had carried the war almost
to the very gates of Venice, and were besieging Chioggia.
A Ragusan contingent under Matteo Giorgi was of great
assistance to them in the siege, owing to Giorgi's knowledge
of the use of artillery,' and, according to Razzi, he would
have prevented the blockade of the Genoese fleet, which

* Dipiom, Rag,^ March 13, 1379, No. 62.
' Re/,^ 1379, June 20 and June 26. > Engel, § 32.

1 82 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

was executed, by closing the harbour with sunken boats,
if only his advice had been followed.* On the defeat of
the Genoese the Ragusan galleys managed to escape, and
saved a number of the fugitives whose vessels had been
sunk (June 24, 1380). Desultory fighting continued for
a few months longer, in which the Ragusan galleys took
part, and in 1381 peace was signed at Turin. Although
in the end the Genoese had been defeated, Venice
was by no means victorious, and had to confirm her
renunciation of Dalmatia, much to the satisfaction of
Ragusa.

But it seemed as though the little Republic of St.
Blaize were destined never to be at peace with her neigh-
bours for long. Hardly was the Chioggia war over when
a storm-cloud appeared on the side of Bosnia. Now
that the Bosnian king had humbled his neighbours and
become the most powerful sovereign of the Southern
Slaves he began to assume an unfriendly attitude towards
Ragusa. His kingdom possessed a stretch of coast from
the Bocche di Cattaro to the mouth of the Cetina, but
the two best ports of that region — Ragusa and Cattaro
— ^were independent Republics owing allegiance to the
King of Hungary, who was by no means likely to be
always friendly to a powerful and independent Bosnia.
If Tvrtko wished to establish a really strong Servian state
he would have to occupy those towns. While still
Banus he had granted the freedom of his territories to
the Ragusans in a charter dated from Bobovac, February
5> ^375-* On April 10, 1379, he came to ^^rnovica,
very near Ragusa, accompanied by his magnates. The

^ Razzi, lib. i. cap. xxi. ' Miklosich, Mon, Serb.^ 184-5.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 183

Republic sent out a commission of nobles to greet him,
and a new and advantageous commercial treaty was
concluded, Ragusa agreeing to pay Tvrtko and his
successors 500 ipperperi a year for freedom to trade in
Bosnia, and 2000 a year as lord of the Servian lands.^
But this friendship did not last long, for on July 26,
1379, we find the Republic complaining to Louis of
Hungary that the people of Cattaro having oflFered their
city to the King of Bosnia, the latter refused to allow
foodstuffs to be imported into Ragusa. Louis defended
his faithful vassals, and Tvrtko was forced to desist from
his annoyances. When, in 1382, Louis died, he left a
widow, Elizabeth, who was Tvrtko's cousin, and two
daughters, Mary and Hedwig. He had declared Mary
his successor, and betrothed her to Prince Sigismund, son
of the Emperor Charles IV., King of Bohemia ; but on
his death the Poles, who were united to the Hungarians
under the same dynasty, refused to be ruled by Mary,
and elected her younger sister Hedwig as their queen
instead, and even in Hungary and Croatia a considerable
party was opposed to Elizabeth and Mary. Civil war
broke out and devastated Hungary, Croatia, Dalmatia,
and Slavonia for the next twenty-five years. Of these
disturbances Tvrtko determined to take advantage, now
favouring Elizabeth and Mary, now Charles of Durazzo,
who as an Angevin claimed the throne of Hungary also,
and his son Ladislas, always with an eye to his own
profit.* His first thought was for Ragusa. He knew
that he could not capture the town without a large fleet,
for Ragusan shipping had revived since 1358, and was

^ Miklosich, Afon, Serb,^ i88. ' Klaid, p. 206.

1 84 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

now very formidable. But he also knew that its inhabit*
ants lived entirely by trade, and he determined to injure
them by establishing a rival trading centre at the entrance
of the Bocche, making it the chief port and the com-
mercial capital of Bosnia. He called it Sveti Stjepan
(San Stefano), but the name was soon changed to Novi,
and then to Erzegnovi (Castelnuovo). In violation of his
treaties with Ragusa he opened salt-pans at Gistelnuovo,
which soon became an important trading station not only
for the neighbourhood, but for the whole of Dalmatia
and Croatia. The Ragusans complained bitterly, and as
they obtained Hungarian support, Tvrtko deemed it
prudent to give way for the moment, and he promised to
close the salt market.^ But again in 1383 he re-opened
it, and the Republic sent Pietro Gondola and Stefano
Luccari to Budapest to complain of this breach of the
treaty to Queen Mary. The latter at once issued a
decree forbidding the inhabitants of Dalmatia and Croatia
to trade at Novi.*

Tvrtko, not feeling yet strong enough to attack
Ragusa openly, allied himself with the Venetians. The
latter sold him a large galley fully armed and equipped,
and allowed him to have two others built in Venice, sent
Nicco]6 Baseio to him as admiral, and made him honorary
citizen of the Republic.^ These movements disturbed
not only Ragusa, but also the two Hungarian queens,
who feared that Tvrtko might avail himself of the dis-
content in Croatia and Dalmatia to raise further trouble.

^ Charter dated December 2, 1382, in Miklosich, 201-202.

' Kvkuljev'ic-Sakcinskiy /ura /^e^t Croa/tfiy u 1 50-1 51 ; Klaid, 209.

' Mon, Slav.f iv. 187-8, 194-5, 200-203.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 185

They therefore sent Nicholas of Gara to his court at
Sutieska to try to come to some arrangement. Finally
Tvrtko was induced to agree not to disturb Ragusa nor
the Hungarian dominions, for which promise he was
rewarded with the town of Cattaro.* This occupation
brought him into conflict with the BalSas of Zedda, but
after some fighting peace was restored through Venetian
mediation. On April 9, 1387, Tvrtko concluded a
treaty with Ragusa, in which he promised to protect the
city from all enemies, and the Ragusans granted him the
right of asylum should he ever be in need of it. It was
added that if he should come to the town for any reason,
and Queen Mary, who was then a prisoner in the hands
of the rebels, should escape, he should be warned in good
time and allowed to leave.

By the following year the King of Bosnians power
in Croatia and Dalmatia had greatly increased, and he
became possessed of such important castles as Clissa,
Vrana, Ostrovica, and probably Knin, the key of Croatia.*
He now tried to get hold of the Dalmatian coast towns,
as the whole country was in a turmoil of war and revolu-
tion, Ragusa alone remaining quiet and loyal to Queen
Mary and her husband Sigismund. Various Dalmatian
towns promised to pay allegiance to Tvrtko, including
Spalato, which was to raise the Bosnian standard on June
15, 1389. But on that very date the death-knell of the
Southern Slaves sounded on the fatal " Field of Crows." ^

While Tvrtko was thus consolidating his kingdom
at the expense of his neighbours, while Hungary was a

1 July 20, 1385, Klaid, 211. » Klaid, 226,

* Kossovo or Kosovo Polje.

1 86 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

prey to civil war, while the various princelings of Servia
were eternally fighting among themselves, the Turks
were ever marching onward. As early as 1375 Marko
Kraljevid, the hero of Servian popular poetry, had
initiated the disastrous policy of calling in Turkish
assistance in a quarrel against another Christian prince.
Wishing to reconquer Kastoria and other towns in
Southern Macedonia and Albania held by the Musacchi
family and their ally George I. BalSa, he obtained a
Turkish contingent for the enterprise, but was de-
feated by Bal§a. In 1376 Tvrtko had allied himself
with Knez Lazar, who ruled over the Danubian provinces
of Servia (the last remnant of the Servian Empire)
against Nicholas Altomanovid, and continued to remain
on good terms with him after Nicholas's death. He
regarded Knez Lazar's principality as a buffer State
between his own dominions and those of the Turks.
After the fall of Ni§ in 1375, and of Sofia in 1382, he
gave Lazar assistance, and in 1387 he sent him a con-
tingent which enabled him to cut to pieces a Turkish
army of 20,000 men at Plodnik on the Toplica (Old
Servia). But the Sultan Murad I. determined to
avenge the defeat, and prepared an expedition against
Lazar. The latter, seeing himself in great danger, ap-
pealed for help from all his neighbours, but the King of
Bosnia alone sent him a force, commanded by Vlatko
Hranid. The Servian-Bosnian army, under the leader-
ship of Knez Lazar, with Marko Kraljevi<5 as chief
lieutenant, had its headquarters at PriStina, in the plain
of Kossovo— a long plateau surrounded by mountains
extending from Verisovid to Mitrovica. The Turkish

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 187

army was commanded by the Sultan Murad in person ;
the right wing was led by his son Bayazet, and the left
by his son Yakub. The fight began early on Wednes-
day, June 15, 1389, and raged all day. For a long time
the fortunes of the battle seemed doubtful, and both
sides fought with heroic courage. But at last Bayazet
succeeded by a sudden attack in throwing the Servian
left wing into confusion. At the same time Vuk
Brankovic, whose name has been handed down to the
execration of the whole Servian race as a traitor, aban-
doned the field of battle with all his division. Then
Vlatko Hranid and the Bosnian contingent began to
give way, and the main body of the Serbs was driven
slowly back. Knez Lazar, after fighting like a lion, was
killed in the milie ; Murad was mortally wounded in his
own tent by the Servian chief Milo§ Obili6, who pre-
tended to be a traitor and to have information to give
him. He was himself cut down instantly, and then
Lazarus head was brought in by attendants to cheer the
dying Sultan, who expired soon after.

The Turks did not follow up their victory, and from
the first news of the fight which he received Tvrtko
thought that the Christians had triumphed, and sent
messages to that effect to the foreign Powers. In the
churches of Florence TV Deums of victory were sung,
and the Republic congratulated the Bosnian king. /
Even when the true result was known no one realised '
at the time what a crushing blow had fallen on the
Slavonic peoples of the Balkans. The native princes '
continued to fight among themselves regardless of their
impending doom, and Tvrtko, who was the most power-

1 88 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

ful of them, thought more of occupying Dalmatia and
Croatia than of strengthening his southern frontier.
His enterprises were fairly prosperous ; he succeeded in
conquering the whole country from the Velebit moun-
tains to Cattaro, Zara and Ragusa alone remaining true
to Sigismund, while the three islands of Brazza, Curzola,
and Lesina recognised the suzerainty of the Bosnian
king (1390). He died in 1391, leaving Bosnia in such
a position as she had never enjoyed before. But her
power was not based on a solid foundation, and therefore
short-lived. His brother, Stephen DabiSa, who succeeded
him, soon lost the greater part of Dalmatia and Croatia.

George II. Straiimirov BalSa, who now styled himself
" absolute lord of all the Zedda and of the coast," and
had established a brilliant court at Scutari,^ was equally
unconscious of the danger, and thought only of capturing
Cattaro. He began by occupying the KrivoSije,* and
blocked all the roads leading into the town. Ragusa at
the request of Cattaro acted as mediator, and peace was
made, probably on an understanding on the part of the
Cattarini that they would pay a tribute to George.'
Ragusa was beginning to be really alarmed at the pro-
gress of the Turks in Albania, and saw the necessity of
allying herself with the other Dalmatian townships, "prop-
ter oppressionem Turcorum." In 1390 the Senate had
tried in vain to mediate between the King of Bosnia and
Hungary, so as to end the war which was desolating the
country,* and now it made a proposal of this kind to

^ Gelcich, Baila^ 140. ^ The mountainous region behind Cattaro.

' Lettere di Levante^ 1403- 14 10, fol. 78; Gelcich, Batia^ 162.
* Ref.^ in Dipt, Rag,y Sept 17, 1390, and Jan. 26, 1391.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 189

Hungary and Venice. At the same time it granted a
subsidy of arms and ammunition to George BalSa. But
mutual jealousies prevented the idea from being realised/

lECARV's GARDSN, FKANCISCAN UONASTEKV

and in 1392 George himself was a prisoner in the hands
of the Turks.* He was soon ransomed, but he lost
Scutari, and his power was seriously shaken.

The year 1395 proved an unfortunate one for Ragusa. |
' Gelcicb, Balia, 161-3. * Man. Slav., iv. 39;, Oct 7, 1393.

I90 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

In the first place, one Constantine BalSa, a relative of
George II., who had obtained a trade monopoly in the
Zedda and inland as far as Prizren and Novobrdo, laid
heavy impositions on Ragusan trade so as to exclude it
from the country.^ At the same time heavy rains flooded
the city and its immediate neighbourhood, destroying all
the crops, and on May 19 a severe earthquake — the first
great shock felt in Daimatia for many centuries — ^wrought
great havoc* During this period the Adriatic was infested
by the pirate barques of Gabriele da Parma. There was
another quarrel with George Bal§a on account of a certain
monk named Marino of Dulcigno, who intrigued with
the Slaves near Ragusa. However, this was soon settled
to the satisfaction of all parties, the Albanian markets
were re-opened, Constantine Bal§a recovered Scutari from
the Turks for his kinsman, and declared himself despot
of the town. In 1395 George visited Ragusa, where he
was splendidly received as Prince of Albania.

Although the Ragusans were usually on bad terms
with their immediate neighbours, they had been for some
time good friends with the Bosnian magnate Vlatko
Vukovid. On his death in 1392 his estates descended to
his nephew Sandalj Hranid, to whom Ragusa sent an em-
bassy of homage in 1395. He was a true type of South
Slavonic lordling of that time. His one object was to
consolidate and enlarge his territories, so as to carve out a
principality for himself and be independent of the King of
Bosnia or the Despot of Servia. Like all his colleagues, he
completely failed to appreciate the terrible significance of
the Turkish danger, and while he began by " proclaiming

1 Ref,^ 1395-7, fol. 75, 78 ; Gelcich, Balia^ 174. « Gelcich, BMa^ p. 175.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 191

his misfortunes from the mountain tops, he ended by de-
scending into the plain to declare himself the vassal of
the powerful invader." ^ He was certainly less cruel than
most of his neighbours, and, unlike them, was guilty of
no particularly heinous murders. The result of his
ambitious schemes was the formation of the Duchy after-
wards called of St. Sava or the Herzegovina.* In 1396
he meditated a descent on Cattaro in order to round off
his dominions. This town was also coveted by Radi<5
Crnoevid, lord of what is now Montenegro. Radic got
into trouble with BalSa, by whom he was defeated and
killed, while Sandalj, although he could not take Cattaro,
took Budua, probably at the secret instigation of Venice,
who did not wish BalSa to advance further north. San-
dalj was granted the honorary citizenship of Venice.

In the meanwhile, in spite of several set-backs,
Turkish raids into Bosnia continued. Small bands were
sent forward as feelers to ravage and plunder and prepare
the way for their grand advance. We find the Ragusan
Senate asking the King of Hungary to recommend them
to Venice for protection against the Turks,' while they
gave asylum in Stagno and Sabbioncello to many Slaves
and Vlachs who were flying from the terrible enemy.
On September 28, 1396, Sigismund, King of Hungary,
at the head of a confederate force of 100,000 Christians,
was totally defeated by the Sultan Bayazet at Nikopolis
on the Danube. The King himself managed to escape
down the river on a Venetian galley to the Black Sea to
Constantinople, across the -ffilgean, and up the Adriatic

* Gelcich, BcUHa^ 183. * Le. "the Duchy," from Herzeg or Herzog.

' Re/.^ in Dipl. Rag,^ March 20, 1392.

:,.V-.

192 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

to Ragusa, which he reached on December 21. He was
honourably and hospitably received by the Rector and
Councillors, who offered him the keys of the town. He
spent nine days there, being entertained', together with
his suite at the expense of the Republic, and he received
in addition a present of 2000 ducats and two years'
tribute in advance. As a reward he granted the Republic
the right to strike silver coinage.* On December 30 he
departed on board a Ragusan galley for Spalato. He
took the four sons of the ship's chief officer into his
service, and subsequently through his favour many
Ragusans rose to high positions in Hungary.

Every day fresh batches of refugees fled into Ragusan
territory before the advancing Ottoman hordes, who even
threatened the Bocche di Cattaro. George BalSa himself
began to fear for his own safety, and requested that
Ragusa should give shelter to his wife and family. The
Republic placed a palace at his disposal, and also allowed
him to purchase arms and ammunition in the town and
have his old weapons repaired there. But even this had
to be done secretly, lest Sandalj, who was an enemy of
the Ba]§as and a friend of the Turks, should retaliate on
the Ragusans. We find an interesting entry in this
connection by Andrea da Bologna, the Chancellor of the
Republic, in the Reformationes for 1398: "Die . . .
(blank space) Januarii (1398) Filius Pasayt (Bayazet)
cum magna quantitate Turchorum el Sclavorum intravit
Bossinam, et fuit depredatus ipsam. In reversione major
pars ipsorum propter immensum frigus decesserunt." '

^ Hitherto it had only struck copper coins, using foreign silver and
gold. Gold coins were never struck at Ragusa.
* Gelcich, BaffUf 200-201.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 193

This shows that even at that early date the Turks found
allies in the renegade Slaves. The Ragusan Senate tried
to mediate between Sandalj and George so as to strengthen
Hungary, and arranged a meeting between the former
and his rival's wife, but the attempted conciliation failed.
Apparently, too, some of the Slavonic lordlings tried to
draw Ragusa into their intrigues with the Turks, and
in 1399 Feris (PFerid), Governor of Sve<^anj, visited
the town as Turkish envoy, but nothing came of the
negotiations.^

The kingdom of Bosnia was, as we have seen, subject
to constant incursions on the part of the Turks, whom
it was incapable of resisting, for under the reign of King
Dabisa and Queen Helena Gruba the Vojvods had risen
to power once more, and had become almost independent.
Of these the most important were Sandalj Hrani<5, lord
of Hlum, of whom we have already spoken ; Hrvoje,
Duke of Spalato; and Paul Radinovid. Sandalj ruled
over a great part of Hlum as far as the Drina. Hrvoje,
who has been described as the " Bosnian Warwick," owing
to the number of princes he deposed and set up, ruled
over middle Dalmatia, a large part of Bosnia, including
the town of Jajce, and some districts of Hlum, includ-
ing Livno. Paul Radinovic was lord of Trebinje, part of
Canal i, and other lands as far as Pra^. His sons, Peter
and Radosav, took the name of Paulovid. Queen Helena
lost her throne owing to a rebellion in 1398 or 13991
and was succeeded by Stephen Ostoja, probably a natural
son of Stephen Tvrtko.^ Ostoja had to depend for his
authority on the goodwill of his magnates, but his reign

* Gelcich, BalSoy 205-206. * Klaidj 274.

194 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

was at first successful. He defeated Sigismund of
Hungary, who tried to enforce his claims on Bosnia,
and had invaded it at two points. Also on the Turkish
frontier things were more peaceful, and, according to
Klaiif, after the raid of 1398 Ostoja concluded a treaty
with Bayazet to support the claims of Ladislas of Naples
to the Hungarian throne against Sigismund.^ Later,
Bayazet became still less formidable, as he had to hurry
off to Asia to defend his Empire against Timur.

For a few years after his accession Ostoja had been
friendly to Ragusa, and in 1399 he granted them a
further stretch of coast from Stagno to Klek, near the
mouth of the Narenta. For this the citizens had given
him a palace in the town and made him an honorary
citizen; they granted the same favours to Hrvoje for
his intercession.* But Ostoja, finding himself with no
coast-line save the bit between the rivers Cetina and the
Narenta, repented of his generosity, and tried to induce
Ragusa to recognise Bosnian supremacy. When in 1400
the envoys brought him the tribute he suggested that
the city should throw off the Hungarian yoke and come
under his protection. But the Republic would not hear
of the proposal, preferring to obey the distant and com-
plaisant King of Hungary rather than the near and
untrustworthy King of Bosnia. The latter did not yet

1 Klaid, 278-9 ; he deduces this from the letter of the Ragusans to
Hrvoje, April 8, 1400, in which they state that Ostoja had protested
against their detention of the Turkish envoy. See also Pu£i(5, Spomemci^
i. 28, and Lucio, De Regno Dalm. et Croat, ^ p. 258.

^ A few years before, in 139I9 they had received part of Canali, with
Dolnja Gora and Soko, from the Paulovidi, so that now the territory of
he Republic extended from the Narenta to the Bocche di Cattaro.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 195

feel strong enough to attack the city openly with any
chance of success where Tvrtko had failed, so he resorted,
if we are to believe the local historians, to intrigue, and
secretly fomented a conspiracy of ambitious nobles. The
circumstances of the plot are not very clear, and Ragnina's
account, detailed though it is, leaves much unexplained.
In the early part of 14CX) four nobles, Niccol6 and
Giacomo Zamagna, and Lorenzo and Simeone Bodazza,
determined to become masters of the city with the help
of the Count of Popovo (in the Herzegovina), the Vojvod
of Trebinje, and other Bosnian barons. According to
Ragnina the conspiracy was engineered by Ostoja, or by
Stephen the Despot of Servia. It is more likely that
the former was privy to it, as the Despot of Servia was
now a person of no importance, and his territory did
not even border with that of the Republic. The Bosnian
king probably saw in this plot a means of possessing
himself of the town and its valuable port ; but he did
not appear in the actual intrigue, which was carried on
by the neighbouring jvojvods. Ragusa at this time was
almost deserted, a large part of its inhabitants having
taken refuge in the neighbouring country on account
of the plague. On the Feast of the Forty Martyrs
(March 9) a number of the conspirators were to dine
in the house of a certain artisan at Ragusa to mature
their plans. The man not having enough table utensils
for the company sent his wife to the house of a noble
named Niccol6 Gozze, in whose service she had been, to
ask for a loan of the required articles. Gozze promised
to lend them, but wanted to know for whom they were
required. The woman told him the names of the nobles

196 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

in question, and as they were men of somewhat shady
antecedents Gozze became suspicious. He bribed the
woman to take note of all that she should hear at
supper, and to report it to him the following morning.
This she did, and informed Gozze that a Morlach named
Milo§ and four companions had come with the nobles,
and that it was agreed that Milo§ should wait at the
town gate for a Slave messenger who was expected with
letters from the Bosnian magnates. They also discussed
how to raise a band of followers from among the dregs
of the people, and secretly to admit some Slaves fi-om
outside, with the object of overpowering the town guard,
seizing the gates, and opening them to a large force of
Bosnians. Gozze, although suffering from the gout,
rose from his bed, had himself carried to the Govern-
ment Palace, and summoned the Minor Council. The
woman was secured and summoned to give evidence, and
the chief conspirators were arrested. They confessed
everything under torture. At the same time a trusty
man was sent to await the arrival of the letters in the
place of the Morlach; he gave all the requisite signs
when the messenger arrived, and received the papers.
The contents were as follows : " In the first place
remember your promise and take care of yourself and
yours, and we shall do what we have decided.** The
conspirators were beheaded on March 10, and their
property confiscated. A few who managed to escape
were condemned in contumacy. This episode is in-
teresting as being one of the only instances of an internal
revolution in law-abiding Ragusa. There is not enough
evidence to enable us to understand its character nor the

Franciscan Monastery

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 197

actual complicity of Ostoja. It may also have been an
early symptom of the disagreement between the Latin
and Slavonic elements of the population.

Ostoja, after having received the homage of Sebenico
and Trail, renewed his request that Ragusa should re-
cognise his supremacy; but again the citizens refused,
and renewed their oath of fealty to Sigismund, merely
promising to take no part in the hostilities between Bosnia
and Hungary, and to refuse to admit Bosnian rebels into
the town. The following year a number of Sigismund^s
opponents in Hungary, Croatia, and Dalmatia collected
at Zara, and Ladislas crossed over from Italy and was
crowned by the Hungarian Primate King of Hungary,
Croatia, and Dalmatia. Ostoja himself, however, was not
altogether satisfied, for although he had favoured Ladislas^s
cause as long as the pretender was in Italy, the moment
he landed in Dalmatia, the Bosnian king felt that his own
interests along the seaboard were menaced. Hrvoje, Duke
of Spalato, maintained an ambiguous attitude, and Ostoja
determined to make use of this confusion to declare war
on Ragusa. He found a pretext in the fact that two
Bosnian rebels had been given hospitality in the town ;
he began by demanding back the Primorije which he
himself had ceded, as well as other territory given by
his predecessors, and he also insisted that the Ragusans
should recognise his full suzerainty. His demands
being rejected he sent a force of 8000 men under the
Vojvods Radic Sankovic, Sandalj Hranic, and Paul Radi-
novic into Ragusan territory. Hostilities lasted from
August 1403 to the spring of 1404.^ We have but meagre

^ Diplom, Ragus,y 91-102.

198 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

details of this campaign besides those given in the un-
trustworthy chronicle of Resti, and some information in
the Diplomatarium. According to Resti, the Ragusans at
first drove back the Bosnians, but the latter were soon
reinforced and again invaded the Republic's territory.
Encounters took place at Bergato and Gionchetto, and
4000 well-armed Ragusans commanded by Giacomo
Gondola tried to induce the enemy to give battle, but
without success, as the latter retired to Trebinje. Prob-
ably the Ragusans were defeated, as we find the Senate
asking for the mediation of the Hungarian king shortly
after. But the difficulty was, which king, as Ladislas
was now in Dalmatia. The tortuous nature of Ragusan
diplomacy is well illustrated by the contemporaneous
embassies to Ladislas, Sigismund, and Hrvoje. They
did not wish to commit themselves by sending regular
ambassadors to Ladislas, as Sigismund might still gain
the upper hand, so they merely sent a monk, Marino
Bodazza, ostensibly to obtain compensation for the pro-
perty taken by the pretender's followers. But a request
for mediation in the Bosnian quarrel was also hinted at.
Ladislas replied that he would consider the matter if
a proper embassy were sent to him. This the Senate
refused to do, upon which Ladislas declared Ragusa to
be his enemy. But, fortunately for the Republic, Sigis-
mund regained his freedom, and collected a large army
in iiorthern Hungary, while Ladislas returned to Italy.
An embassy was then sent to Sigismund, the envoys being
instructed to go first to Hrvoje, the Duke of Spalato,
to complain of Ostoja's conduct, and suggest that he
himself might become King of Bosnia ; but if he did not

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 199

care to go so far, he might help some other member of
the Kotromanic family, or Paul Radissic, who had been
living at Ragusa for the past two years, to acquire the
crown. Ragusa had always been friendly to the old
Bosnian dynasty, and had given refuge to many of its
exiled princes. At the same time they were to inform
him that Ostoja, on seeing the retreat of Ladislas, had sent
envoys to Sigismund to intrigue against him (Hrvoje).
If the latter broached the subject of Ragusa's relations
with Ladislas they were to say : " We are the subjects
of the Crown of Hungary, and whoever is actually King
of Hungary is our suzerain." They were to proceed
to Sigismund's court only if Hrvoje advised them to do
so. If they did go on to Hungary they were instructed
to try to obtain for Ragusa the suzerainty over the three
large islands of Lesina, Curzola, and Brazza, to discover
what were the provisions of the treaty which was being
negotiated between Ostoja and Sigismund, and to warn the
latter against the Bosnian king's fickleness, and induce him
to insist that that potentate should give up the territory
he had filched from the Republic in the last war, and
pay compensation for the damages, calculated at 200,000
ducats, for which he was responsible. They were also to
suggest that he should come to terms with Hrvoje, who
might help him to reduce Bosnia to obedience, and to ad-
vise him to sow dissension among the Bosnian magnates,
who were always ready to rebel.^

The embassy departed for Spalato, and thence, at
Hrvoje's advice, proceeded to Hungary, but there they
found that, Ostoja having shown himself willing to

* Diplom, Rag.^ 95, Nov. 16, 1403.

200 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

make peace, Sigismund had concluded a treaty with
him already. By its terms Ostoja recognised Hungarian
supremacy over Bosnia, and agreed to renew all the pri-
vileges of the Ragusans, and restore all the territory taken
save the Primorije or coast-land. This did not satisfy the
Republic, and Hrvoje was still more annoyed as it upset
all his ambitious schemes. So he concluded an alliance
with Ragusa against Ostoja, with the object of deposing
him and placing Paul Radissic on the Bosnian throne.
Hrvoje was to lead an army of Dalmatians and Bosnian
malcontents up the Narenta valley, while Ragusa was
to cut off Ostoja's supplies and intrigue against him at
the Hungarian court. Sigismund, however, supported
Ostoja, and when the latter was besieged in his castle
of Bobovac by Hrvoje he sent a force to his assistance
under the Banus of Mac^va ^ (Sigismund^s lieutenant in
northern Bosnia), and gained back all his territory for
him. But he did not forget his faithful Ragusans, and
not only induced Ostoja to renew their privileges, but
requested him to restore them the coast between the
Ombla and Stagno.* After long negotiations the Diet or
" Congregation " of Bosnian magnates met at Visoki in
April,' and Ostoja brought Ragusa's claim before it* but
no decision was arrived at. After further useless nego-
tiations the Ragusans again allied themselves with Hrvoje
and the Bosnian rebels, including this time Sandalj Hrani<5
and Paul Radinovi<5. A second conference of nobles was

' Fej^r, CotL DipL^ x. 4, p. 388.
* Pu^id, Spom,^ i. xv; Klaidy 280-290.

3 The Djed or chief priest of the Bogomil community was also present
at this Parliament

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 201

summoned, and Ostoja was deposed. Stephen Tvrtko II.,
son of Stephen Tvrtko I., was elected king, and Ostoja
retired to Bobovac, now occupied by a Hungarian gar-
rison. The new king owed his position to Hrvojc and
Sandalj, who were the real masters of the country, and
Ragusa applied to them to obtain a lasting peace with
Bosnia. "For what you desire,*' wrote the Rector to
Sandalj, " that also the lord King Tvrtko and the Duke
(Hrvoje) and all Bosnia desire too, for God has granted
you the favour that this should be so." ^ Eventually
Tvrtko gave them back all the territory that had been
theirs and some more lands besides. The Republic
made him and his brothers, as well as Sandalj, citizens
of Ragusa, and gave them palaces in the town.

The loyalty of the Ragusans to Hungary was sorely
tried this same year, for Sigismund prepared to make
war on Tvrtko as a usurper and reinstate Ostoja as the
rightful king. They would not side openly with Tvrtko
against this suzerain, but they did not wish to lose the
valuable and hardly won favours of Bosnia ; they there-
fore placed their arsenals at the disposal of Tvrtko*s
agents, who bought large supplies of arms for the war.*
Sigismund sent three armies into Bosnia — one under the
Banus of Mac^va by way of Usora, a second under Paul,
Banus of Croatia, up the Una valley towards Bihac, and
a third to guard the Bosnian-Slavonian frontier under
Peter of Per6n. Ladislas lent his fleet to Hrvoje to
keep watch at Arbe and attack Sigismund*s forces if they
should invade the littoral. But after a few ephemeral

^ Pu^id, i. 56 and 6i.

^ Radki, Pokret^ Rad. iv., JugosL Akad., 85 ; Klaid, 397.

202 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

successes the Hungarians were defeated at all points, and
Tvrtko's position was thereby considerably strengthened.
Ostoja, fearing for his life, asked for a safe conduct to
Ragusa in April 1407, and the Senate, much to his
surprise, granted it, forgiving him all his former hostility,
" for any man who from Bosnia or from the land of any
other lord takes refuge in our city, according to the law,
may enter freely and live here undisturbed/' But after
all he did not avail himself of the permit, either because
he mistrusted the Ragusans, or because he still hoped
to regain his throne. While Tvrtko was trying to win
Cattaro and Budua from the Balsas, Sigismund was pre-
paring his revenge, and in 1408 invaded Bosnia with a
large army, defeated the usurper and captured him,
together with a large number of magnates, of whom 126
were beheaded at Dobor. Ostoja was replaced on the
throne, and Sigismund retired to Buda with Tvrtko in
his train.

We must now return to Ragusa*s relations with the
BalSas. When George II. died in 1 403 he was succeeded
by his son, who styled himself Bal§a III. The Zedda
was now surrounded by jealous rivals; the Turks
claimed tribute, Venice wished to establish posts in the
country against them, and various native princelings
aspired to enlarge their estates. Ragusa being at war
with Bosnia, allied herself with the lords of NjegoS (the
nucleus of modern Montenegro) and with Cattaro, and
tried to conciliate Venice. BalSa determined to oust the
Venetians from Albania, and invited the Turks to help
him to capture Drivasto and Scutari. Thus Ragusa and
he were in opposite camps. Drivasto fell, and so did the

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 203

town of Scutari, but the castle held out (1404). With
the help of Sandalj Hranic^ and the Albanian magnates
Venice soon recovered all that she had lost, and by June,
1407, BalSa and his ambitious mother Helena had to sue
for peace and give way on all points. BalSa, however,
did not carry out his engagements, and Venice resorted
to the threat of calling in the help of Bayazet to force
him to do so (January, 1409) ; in June of the same year
the Venetian fleet sailed down the Adriatic and put in at
Ragusa, where the Capitano in Golfo met the envoy of
Sandalj.^ BalSa, being now thoroughly frightened, went
to Venice with his mother and signed a further agree-
ment. But in 1 4 10 he again raided the Venetian posses-
sions and attacked Scutari with a large force. Benedetto
Contarini defended the town with great skill, and re-
ceived much assistance from a Ragusan flotilla operating
on the lake.* Balsa having also threatened Cattaro, that
town off>2red itself to the Venetians, who were ready to
occupy it ; but now Sandalj came forward with his claims
on it, which caused further complications. Ragusa,
although allied to Venice, tried to better her relations
with Balsa on account of her Albanian trade. But this
ambiguous attitude was not quite successful, and Ragusan
merchants ended by suff^ering molestations both from
the Venetians and from Balsa's subjects. In 141 2 peace
was concluded, and BalSa restored everything.

Once the danger from BalSa was passed Ragusan
hostility against Venice revived again, and the Senate
wrote to protest against Venetian depredations in Albanian
and Sicilian waters. The Republic still desired the

^ Ref. 1407-1411, fol. 245. * Gelcich, BcUla^ 271.

204 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

supremacy of Hungary in the Adriatic, and although
that cause was lost, it tried to bolster it up by inducing
Cattaro to return to Hungarian allegiance. This attempt
was made, however, more with the object of injuring
Venice than with any hope of benefiting Hungary.
Ragusa also contracted an alliance with BalSa and mth
Sandalj, who had married Balsa's mother, and was medi-
tating a coup on Cattaro. But the Cattarini succeeded in
inducing Ragusa to mediate between them and Sandalj,
and even to provide them with a large loan with which
to arm the whole population of the Bocche. The maze
of intrigue and counter-intrigue between Venice, Hungary,
Ragusa, Bosnia, and the various Slave and Albanian
princes now becomes hopelessly involved, and no man
trusted any other. Ragusa's policy is well explained in
a despatch,^ in which it is stated that the Republic ^* had
to be on good terms with these lords of Slavonia, for
every day our merchants and our goods pass through
their hands and their territory, and we fear lest they (the
merchants) should suffer injury." But when BalSa de-
manded a number of Ragusan shipbuilders to repair his
vessels for operations against Venice the Senate refused,
fearing to incur the latter's displeasure.

The protection and promotion of trade was the key-
note of Ragusan policy, and everything was done with
that end in view. In the meanwhile the Senate acquired
much knowledge concerning the af&irs of Italy and of
the East from the Ragusan traders, and communicated
the information to Sigismund. Thus the latter learned
about the advance of the Turks in Bosnia at the instiga-

^ Gelcichj Balla, 294.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 205

tion of Vuk, the son of Knez Lazar, who wished to get
possession of his brothers principality. Ladislas con-
tinued to send piratical fleets to Dalmatia, which did
much damage to Ragusan commerce. But the Ragusans
revenged themselves by relieving Curzola, which was
attacked by the Apulian fleet. " With the favour of
St. Blaize we shot so many arrows and javelins against the
enemy, and did their ships so much damage with our bom-
bards, that many of their men were killed or wounded.
They abandoned much property and arms, and not only
desisted from the siege, but abandoned these parts alto-
gether."^ This same year (1409) the Venetians began
to re-establish their rule over Dalmatia, and obtained
Zara from Ladislas. This caused an outbreak of hostilities
between them and Sigismund, who regarded Dalmatia as
an integral part of his dominions. While the two Powers
were fighting the common enemy was advancing, and in
141 1 a Ragusan despatch announces that the Turks had
taken and burnt Srebrnica. In 141 "^ negotiations wer?
opened between Hungary and Venice ^ in . ^hich Ragusa
took part, and while Sigismund agreed to give up the
greater part of Dalmatia, Ra gusa asked for ?ind obtained
the lease of the thfee ggvc^eA islands of Lesina, Curzola^
andJBszza, which had been withdrawn from Hrvoje's
rule.* The Ragusans had hoped t o obtain full owner-
ship, but even_the lease was a great point gained , and the
R epublic thought that it wo uld eventually become vested
into absolute poss^jon. The islanders, however, were
not well disposed towards their new masters, and were

^ Dipl, Ragus,^ July 21, 1409.

^ Hrvoje's shiftiness had at last made him fidl into disgrace.

N^"

2o6 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

only cowed into submission by a naval demonstration.
A count was appointed for each island, to remain in office
for six months, with a salary of which Ragusa was to pay
one-third and the islanders the remainder.^ This acquisi -
t \Qp niig )[ )^ have been the beginning of great things for the
Republic had its policy been a little less narrowlv pro-
vincial and nervou s. Its territory was now fairly large,
its commerce and finances flourishing, and with its in-
timate connec tion with the dying kingdom of Bosnia it
V might have extended its influence far into the hin terland^

estab lisVfing a Strong Ji^a tin-Slavonic State as a bulwark
against t he adva ncing Turks. Ragusa was also trying to
get possession oiTanother part of Canali and Dratevica
from Sandlaj Hranic, but the latter would not give it
up, because " if he were hard pressed by the Turks he
would have no other means of escaping to the sea,** and
also because Drac^evica was the best position for domi-
nating Cattaro,* which he had now forced to pay him
tribute. The Venetians, Sandalj, and BalSa were now all
suflTering from the Turkish obsession. The enemy's head-
quarters were at OskQb, whence many raids into Bosnia
and Albania were made. In 141 5 the Turks invaded
Bosnia for the third time, and raiding parties came as
far as Sebenico and Almissa, so that the Ragusan Senate
ordered the islanders to arm light galleys to co-operate
with those of Ragusa and Stagno. The ridges divid-
ing the hinterland from the sea were anxiously watched,
and every moment it was feared that the dreaded tur-
bans might appear over the crest. In 14 16 Sigismund

^ RtsU, ad ann.f 1413.

^ Gelcich, Balla, 302 ; Dipi. Rag*^ v. 21, 14 14.

V:
»?

ir
•I

I ■
I'

■f

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 209

announced to Ragusa his intention of making war on a
grand scale against the Turks, and declared that the
property of all those who helped them should be confis-
cated. As the Despot of Servia, Sandalj Hranic, and
almost every other Slavonic prince were more or less
tributaries to the Sultan, this seems rather a sweeping
order. In the same letter he declared that the three
islands were withdrawn from Ragusan suzerainty and
were to be given over to one Ladislas Jakez, a favourite
of the Empress Barbara (September 21-23, ^4^6). No
reason is assigned for the withdrawal of the concession,
but it was probably due to the somewhat high-handed
manner with which the Republic had governed its new
possessions. Curiously enough, the Senate did not seem
very unwilling to lose them.

There were now fresh disturbances in Bosnia, and
Tvrtko, who had been deposed in favour of Ostoja, was
causing trouble. He raised a band of rebels, with which
he defeated his adversaries and obliged some of them to
take refuge in Ragusan territory. Of this hospitality
Tvrtko, as an old friend of the Republic, complained, but
the citizens replied that it was better for malcontents to
fly to Ragusa, where they usually ended by making peace
with their king, than to other lands. For a few months
Tvrkto was quite powerful, but soon after he was again
defeated. Hrvoje, who had been deprived of his duchy,
now called in the Turks to aid him against Hungary and
Bosnia, and the Sultan Mohammed I. thereupon sent a
force into the latter country, which defeated the Hun-
garians near Usora, and obtained much booty. As soon

as it had retired civil strife broke out again, in conse-

2IO THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

quence of the murder by Ostoja of Paul Radinovid, a
powerful Bosnian noble. Hrvoje died in March 141 6,
and in October a Ragusan despatch declared that "the
whole of Bosnia is laid waste, and the barons are prepar-
ing to exterminate each other." The rebel magnates met
in a Diet, and forced Ostoja to fly to Hlum, where he
succeeded in establishing a precarious rule, but after the
year 141 8 nothing more is heard of him. The magnates
elected his son, Stephen Ostojic, as King, and Ragusa at
once sent an embassy to try to obtain from him the rest
of Canali, of which a part had been given by Sandalj and
a part by Paul Paulovic. This request Ostojid granted,
and in exchange for a yearly tribute of 500 ipperperi
promised to protect the city. Sandalj and Paulovid still
retained a part of that territory, but on Paulovic*s death
in 141 9 Sandalj sold all his remaining share to the
Republic for 1 8,000 ducats, and included that of Paulovid.
The latter's son, Radosav, protested, and induced the
Canalesi to revolt. He too asked for Turkish help,
for, as Resti says, " he had begun after the example of
the other Slave princes to nourish in his breast the viper
that was to devour them all." He continued to disturb
Ragusa for years to come.

Between 141 7 and 1421 Balsa had been at war with
most of his neighbours, including Venice and Ragusa,
but in this last year his stormy life came to an end, and
with him the house of Balsa died out, for he left no
sons. Stephen, the Despot of Servia, Sandalj Hrani<5,
and a native prince named Stephen Maramonte, laid
claim to his estates, but Venice obtained the lion*s
share, as Drivasto, Dulcigno, and Antivari surrendered

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 211

spontaneously to the Republic. Thus disappeared the
principality of the Zedda.

With the year 1420 opens a new epoch in the history
of Dalmatia, for it marks the final reconquest of the
country by Venice and the withdrawal of Hungary
from the Adriatic. In 1409 the great Republic had, as
we have seen, reoccupied Zara, and in 141 2 Sebenico.
She seized the opportunity of Sigismund's being engaged
in the Hussite war in 1420 to seize Lesina, Brazza,
Curzola, and Almissa. Trail, defended by a strong
Hungarian garrison, held out for a little while, but
ended by surrendering too. Spalato fell next, and
Cattaro, after having for some time owed allegiance
to Sandalj Hranic, now spontaneously surrendered to
the Venetians, who took possession on March 8. Thus
they regained the whole of Dalmatia, including the
Croatian towns of Novigrad, Nona, and Vrana. Ragusa
alone remained outside their sphere, but according to
Resti they meditated a coup de main even on the town,
and had actually prepared an expedition for the purpose;
the plot, however, was disclosed by a Venetian Senator
to a Ragusan who had lived twenty-seven years in Venice
and was regarded as almost a Venetian. But he had not
forgotten his duty towards his native city, and hastened
to inform the Ragusan Government. The town was
immediately put in a state of defence, so that when the
Venetian squadron arrived it saw that a surprise was
out of the question, and gave up the idea. This story,
like every other statement of Resti's, is doubtful ; but
according to Lucio there actually were hostilities between
the two Republics at the time, nor is it unlikely that

212 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Venice may have meditated uniting her Dalmatian
possessions by occupying Ragusa.

The situation of Ragusa towards Hungary was thus
considerably altered, as the Hungarians were no longer
on her borders. The Republic from this date assumes
a still greater degree of independence than before, but
from the despatches to the King of Hungary it appears
that it still recognised his suzerainty to a certain extent.
Hungary was, however, no longer able to afford it
valid protection, and the Venetians it did not trust ;
this explains its subsequent attitude towards the Turks,
whom it was now obliged to conciliate, lest it should
suffer the fate that was soon to befall its neighbours.
But its dependence on the Sultan amounted to little
more than the payment of a tribute.

As we have seen, the one important alteration brought
about by the exchange of Hungarian in the place of
Venetian overlordship was the establishment of the
Rector, elected by the city council. This form of
government lasted unchanged until the fall of the
Republic. Its character tended to become more and
more oligarchic, and although the " Specchio," or Golden
Book, was not compiled until 1440, all save the nobles
were practically excluded from any share in the govern-
ment. A new high court of justice was formed, con-
sisting of five judges, who remained in ofHce for one
year. Beyond this there is no important constitutional
or administrative change to record.

Various measures were taken to improve the general
conditions of the city. Lepers were confined to a spot

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 213

outside Ragusa called San Michele alia Cresta, which
they were not allowed to leave. As elsewhere, they were
regarded with feelings of horror mixed with superstitious
awe. The earliest mention of them is in a small legacy
in their favour dated 1295.^ They probably made their
first appearance at Ragusa at the time of the Crusades.
We have already alluded to the great plague of 1348,
and after that there were several outbreaks of the dread
malady in Ragusa ; they are recorded in Gradi's history
of the plagues at Ragusa, written "ad memoriam et
terrorem cunctorum gentium." In 1363 a second out-
break took place, a third in 1371, and a fourth in 1374.
According to Gradi, the total number of victims in these
four visitations amounted to 250 nobles and 25,cxx)
commoners. Quarantine stations for persons coming
from infected spots were established at Ragusavecchia
and on the island rock of Mercana, but in spite of these
precautions there was a fifth outbreak in 1391, which
lasted six months, nearly all the nobles taking refuge at
Gravosa. In 1397 a still more rigorous quarantine was
established, but in 1400 the plague broke out afresh and
carried off 2500 victims, and in 1401 it returned. The
city then remained free from the scourge until 141 6,
when two months of plague caused the death of 3800
persons. It was imported from the East, it is said, by
Paolo Gondola. In 14 10 one Giacomo Godoaldo of
Ferrara had been appointed official physician to the
Republic, and seeing that his remedies were of little
avail, he suggested in 141 6 that plague patients should
be isolated. The Senate agreed, and two houses in the

^ Gelcich, Istihunam SanitarU $ MaritHme^ p. 56.

214 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

suburb of Dande were set apart for them. When another
outbreak occurred in 1422, the number of victims was
very small, owing to these precautions.

Ragusan trade continued to increase considerably, and
followed much the same lines as in the preceding period ;
but, owing to the Turkish invasion and the consta nt
wars in the Slave lands, it te nded more and more to ward s
v^ the sea. Italy, the G re ek Empire^ Asia Minor, an d
Egypt were always the chief markets for Ragusan mer-
chants, and special exemptions were granted to them to
trade with the I nfidel,^ although thev were forbidden to
sell timber, iron, or arms in those countries. Their
relations with the Turks were satisfactory, and they
often sent envoys to the Emirs and Sultans. At the
same time, this did not interfere with their good under-
standing with the Christian Powers, and they did much
business with Constantinople and the rest of the Greek
Empire, both by sea and by land. The land trade with
the Slavonic hinterland, although subject to frequent
interruptions, was still very active, and new and flourish-
ing commercial colonies arose in Bosnia, Hlum, Servia,
Albania, and Bulgaria. With Hungary there was a very
active trade, both by way of Bosnia, Servia, and the
Danube, and by sea via Croatia. Embassies were fre-
quently sent to the Hungarian court and to the Banus
of Croatia and Dalmatia, who resided at Zara as the
King of Hungary's viceroy. The envoys in question
frequently acted as commercial travellers for Ragusan
goods, of which they brought samples to sell. An
enactment, which is greatly to the credit of the little

> See the Bull of 1373, in Theiner Afon, Slav, Mer,^ i. 398.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 215

Republic is the prohibition of the slave trade, " perchfe
turpe scellerato ed abominevole" (1417).^ In this the
Ragusans were ahead of most of the other Christian
States at the time, and later, as we shall see, the city
became an important ransoming agency for liberating
slaves captured by the Turks.

The citizens were now extremely wealthy, and ad-
dicted to luxury and splendour. They took much
pleasure in picturesque popular festivals, of which that
of San Biagio (February 3), and the anniversary of
bringing of the Saint's arm to Ragusa (July 5) were
the most important. On both days races were run for
a banner {palio)^ which attracted large crowds of peasants
froni the neighbourhood.^ A third feast was that of the
Forty Martyrs (March 9), established in 1400 to com-
memorate the city's escape from tyranny.* The pro-
cession is thus described in the Ceremonial of the
Rector : —

'*On the 8th day of March his Excellency the
Rector issues forth under the arcades (of the Palace),
whence he is invited by the parish priest of St. Blaize to
enter the church. The following morning he again
comes forth and seats himself on the upper seat, oppo-
site the magistrates, as is customary in such festivals,
with the rest of the Senators; the bells of the Senate
and of the Council are then rung. After the third
tucket of the pipers the Secretary begins, with his
Excellency's permission, to read out in order the names
of all the magistrates and of the remaining members of
the Senate and of the Council ; all must be present, save

' Gelcich, Ragusa^ p. 52. ' De Diversis. ' See anie^ pp. 195-7.

2i6 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

in case of illness or other legitimate impediment —
absentees are fined 25 ipperperi. This done, his Ex-
cellency proceeds along the street of the Palace, with
all the aforesaid nobles, marching two and two, carrying
lighted torches given them by the people. They enter
the church of San Biagio, our Standard-bearer, and then
come out again in procession, carrying the three relics
which are wont to be thus carried, viz. the Head, the
Arm, and the Foot of the Saint, and they march across
the Piazza, round the Loggia, and return by the Palace
street. They again repair to the said church, and High
Mass begins. When it is finished the Archbishop leads
the way, followed by his Excellency, to the Loggia,
where the guard is. Then the Preaching Father of the
Cathedral delivers a political discourse. This ended,
the procession returns t6 the church in the same order.
There the Archbishop and the Rector make obeisance to
each other before the choir ; the former enters the choir,
the latter returns to the Palace ; the torches remain in
the church." ^

Another more secular festival was that of the Tree
on May 3 . There existed a society of patrician youths,
from ten to eighteen years of age, and therefore too young
to take part in the affairs of the State. The society
elected some of its members managers of the festival,
and '* on the last day of April they plant a maypole,
artificially covered with fir branches, to be burnt on
May 3. They choose a page, and three or four at-
tendants for him, from among the patrician boys under
ten, to read out the prayers suitable for the occasion

* Gelcich, 46-47.

UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 217

On May i and on each of the following days the members
of the society repair daily to do homage to the Rector
and the chief authorities, who encourage them, and give
them sweetmeats as a reward for the trouble they are
taking. The ceremonies round the maypole are accom-
panied by fireworks and discharges of small cannon, and
on the evening of the third day the maypole is set on
fire. While it is burning splendid fireworks are set
going. The whole company then repair to the house of
the page, whose father receives formal thanks." ^

A symbol of Hungarian suzerainty, possibly con-
nected with the May festival, is the so-called statue of
Orlando. In many mediaeval towns a pillar was erected
in the chief square, from the summit of which the public
crier proclaimed the enactments of the Government.
Here, too, the people were wont to gather when their
consent was required, and near this spot capital sentences
were sometimes executed. The pillar also served as a
support for the city standard. It was usually adorned
with a statue of a warrior, whence it was called in
German towns the Rolandssdule or Rolandsbild^ Roland
being the symbol of Imperial authority. Such a monu-
ment did not exist at Ragusa until the fifteenth century,
when Sigismund, King of Hungary, the city's pro-
tector, was elected Emperor of Germany. The Roland
column at Ragusa is a square pier in the piazza opposite
the church of the Patron Saint, with a statue of a knight
in full armour on one side and a flag-stafif on top, from
which the banner of the Republic floated on grand
occasions. The right arm of the figure, from the elbow

^ Matteo Saverio Zamagna, quoted in Gelcich, p. 51.

2i8 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

downwards, served as a standard of measurement for the
cloth merchants.^ From the platform on the summit
political orations and funeral discourses were held and
public announcements proclaimed. In 1825 the monu-
ment was upset by a terrific hurricane, and among its
foundations a brass plate was discovered with the
following inscription : —

MCCC .... Ill . DE. MAGGIO. FATTO. NEL . TEMPO . DI . PAPA . MAR

TINO.V.E.NEL.TEMPO.DEL.SIGNOR.NOSTRO.SIGISMONDO.IMPERA

TOR . ROMANORVM . ET . SEM (per Augustus) . ET . RE . D'ONGARIA .

E . DALMATIA . E . CROATIA . ET . CETERA . FO . MESSA . QVESTA . PIE

TRA . ET . STENDARDO . QVI . IN . HONOR . DI . DIO. ET . Dl . SANTO . BLA

SIO . NOSTRO . GONFALON . LI . OFFICIALl

Part of the figures of the date are erased, but as
Martin V. was Pope from 141 7 to 1431, and Sigismund
Emperor from 1411 to 1437, the full date should be
MCCCCJ^mi, or MCCCCJrJ^III, or MCCCCJirJi: with
the III as the day of the month. There is no mention
of Sigismund*s title of King of Bohemia, which he
assumed in 141 9, so that the earlier date seems more
probable, according to Professor Gelcich. On the other
hand, in this case the day of the month would not be
mentioned, and as the year 1420 was that of the end of
Hungarian rule in Dalmatia (the Convention of Gittaro
was signed on March 8, 1420), it is likely that this
column was erected to reconfirm Ragusa*s allegiance to
the Hungarian crown, as well as to proclaim its indepen-
dence from Venice. The date. May 3, may have some
connection with the aforementioned festival.

* The Ragusan small braccioox Idkat mali=^^\ centimetres, Gelcich,
49-50.

CHAPTER VIII

THE TURKISH CONQUEST (1420-1526)

FOR the next hundred years Ragusa remains under
Hungarian protection, but bound by ties so
shadowy that for all practical purposes she may
be regarded as an inde pende nt State. During this period,
however, she feels the weight of Turkish power more
and more, and her tribute to the Porte goes on increasing,
until it reaches the maximum limit of 12,500 ducats.
But in spite of this ever-present danger she continues to
grow in wealth, splendour, and importance, and to carry
out her mission as a haven of refuge and a bulwark of
Christianity and civilisation. She flourishes as a centre
of learning and the arts no less than as an emporium of
trade, and all the while she remains singularly free from
internal troubles and constitutional changes — a unique
distinction in that part of the world. She pursues the
even tenour of her way undisturbed, conservative, aristo-
cratic, narrow-minded, but on the whole successful and
prosperous, and her population contented.

Very different was the condition of the neighbouring
Balkan lands. Bosnia was for the present fairly quiet ;
the Turks had been driven out of the country, and their
leader, Isak Beg, defeated in a raid into Hungary, so
that King Tvrtko was able to reoccupy Vrhbosna, and
Sandalj Hranid recognised his supremacy for the time

S19

220 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

being. The long civil war in Croatia and Daimatia
between the partisans of Sigismund and those of Ladislas
had resulted in the acquisition of the littoral by Venice,
and the only prince who remained independent of the
Republic was Ivan Nelipid, Count of Cetin, Klissa, and
Rama. His estates comprised Western Bosnia and some
districts of Hlum and Daimatia. He could not, of
course, face the Venetians on the sea, but he managed to
hold his own on the mountain ridges.^ The Venetians
and Tvrtko were ready to come to an understanding on
this matter, and a war against Nelipi6 was under dis-
cussion when the Turks again invaded Bosnia. There
were 4CXX:) Ottomans in the country all through the
summer of 1426, and they seized a number of towns and
raided Croatia, Usora, and Srebrnica, while King Tvrtko
did not dare to do anything against them.* The
Ragusan colonies in Novobrdo and Priesrinac were
besieged by the Turks and in great danger. The
Venetians conducted further operations against them in
Albania, the Morea, Achaia, and round Salonica. The
routes through Albania, Bosnia, and Slavonia were
interrupted,' and the inland trade at a stand-still.

Sandalj Hranid for a moment seemed to appreciate
the danger, and after a visit to Ragusa in 1424, made
peace with Radosav Paulovid, who now seemed ready to
sell his share of Canali to Ragusa for 13,000 ducats
down and 600 a year. The Republic created him and
his son Ragusan nobles, and gave them a palace in the

1 Klaii, 337-40.

• DipL Rag,^ 202, June 8, 1426.

• Jbid.^ 206, July 31, 1427.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 221

town.^ But he soon repented of his bargain, and de-
manded back the territory, with the excuse that the
Ragusans were fortifying it contrary to the treaty. The
Ragusans refused to evacuate it, and Radosav collected
a large force to make war on them. The Republic raised
local levies and mercenaries in Italy, Albania, the
Narenta Valley, the Kraina, and Hlum. A band of
Italian mercenaries was attacked by Radosav at the
Pass of Ljuta and forced to retire, and the enemy raided
Breno. An Albanian force went to lay waste Radosav*s
lands, while a mixed detachment of Ragusans and
Albanians, 1 800 strong, under Marino Gozze, made for
Trebinje ; but the Albanians mutinied, Radosav fell on
the divided force, and Gozze had great difficulty in
retiring to Breno in good order.* More troops were
levied in Ragusa and 2000 more mercenaries obtained
from Albania and Italy, while envoys were sent at the
same time to the Hungarian court to protest against
Radosav's conduct, and to request that troops should
be sent against him from Usora. The argument was
strengthened by the assertion that Radosav was a Bogo-
mil.* A little later another request was made to Sigis-
mund that he should instruct the ambassador he was
sending to Sultan Murad II. to ask the latter to punish
Radosav, who, although an Ottoman vassal, had violated
the truce with Hungary by attacking a town under
Hungarian protection.* This proves that Radosav was

^ Dec 31, 1427, in Miklosich, 336- 5a
> Resti ; DipL Rag,^ 215.
' DipL Rag., 212, April 30, 1430.
* Ibid,^ 216, June 18, 1430.

222 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

already a tributary to the Turks, and also explains why
Sandalj and the King of Bosnia feared to help Ragusa
against him, although they were on good terms with the
Republic. The Hungarian ambassador, however, was
not given the instructions suggested, and a Ragusan
envoy had to be sent as well. Finally, Sigismund did
intervene directly, and formed an alliance with Bosnia,
Ragusa, and Sandalj against Radosav, and 70,000 ducats,
of which Bosnia was to pay 40,000, Sandalj 20,000, and
Ragusa 10,000, were offered to the Sultan for permission
to divide up all his territories between them. The
Sultan sent a Pasha to make inquiries on the spot, and
he confirmed the Republic's possession of the land it
had bought and Radosav raided, and demanded com-
pensation for the damage inflicted.^ Finally, after end-
less negotiations at the Sultan's court at Adrianople ' an
agreement was concluded by which the Republic retained
the territory it had purchased, and was to keep the
interest of the money invested by Radosav at Ragusa for
twelve years as compensation ; prisoners were to be
released on both sides without ransom ; certain special
enemies of the Republic were to be exiled from Radosav's
court, and all damage done to Ragusan territory in
future by his vojvods was to be paid for by him (1432).
In 143 1 the Council of Basel had met, and one of its
most active members was Johannes Stoicus of Ragusa,
who made every effort to promote the union of the
Eastern and the Western Churches, and end the religious
strife in the Balkans with a view to common action

1 Dipt. Rag,, 220.

^ An account of them occupies the whole of the tenth book of Resti.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 223

against the Turks. He requested the Ragusan Senate to
try to induce the chief princes of Servia and Bosnia,
whether schismatics or Bogomils, to send envoys to
Basel. The attempt was actually made, but the whole
country was in such a state of anarchy and rebellion that
none of them were able to pay any attention to the
matter.^

A war had broken out between the King of Bosnia
and Stephen Lazarevid, Despot of Servia, which was
destined to last for thirty years. All the Slave princes were
fighting amongst themselves, and Ragusa had another
opportunity of extending her dominions far into the
interior had she been so minded. But according to
Resti, the reason why she abstained was that she realised
that the Turks had earmarked all that country, and that
for her to occupy it would be to court annihilation, and
Trebinje, which was now offered to her, was refused.
It seemed more prudent to content herself with a small
compact territory and with acting the part of intermediary
between East and West, civilisation and barbarism,
Christianity and Islam, than to aspire to dangerous
conquests. The Ragusan despatches for the next few
years are full of the Turkish advance. In 1432 Isak
Beg invaded Croatia, passing through Bosnia with 3CXX)
men, and raided the territory of Zara, while another
army entered Wallachia and Transsilvania, forcing the
lord of Wallachia to recognise the Sultan*s supremacy.
Two years later, however, the Turks met with a serious
check in Albania, where a native force under Arneth
Spata defeated the invaders several times; in 1435

* Matkovid, Rcui.^ 235-36; Klaid, 351-52.

224 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Isak Beg himself sustained a reverse, and most of Albania
was cleared of the Turks.' But the wars amongst the
Slaves made organised resistance impossible, and Sandalj
Hrani<±, whose power now extended throughout Hlum
to the borders of Croatia in the north, far into the Zedda
in the south, and as far as Podrinje in the east, took the
opportunity of the war between the King of Bosnia and
the Despot of Scrvia to join the latter in buying of the
Sultan the right to despoil the former of his kingdom.
The Despot received Usora and Zvornik, while Sandalj
was to take the rest.* Tvrtko, whose power had been
slipping from him, was now forced to fly, and took refuge
with Sigismund of Hungary ;' but the civil war continued.
On March 15, 1435, Sandalj died, leaving his broad lands
to his nephew, Stephen Vukei<J, generally known as
Stephen KosaSa,' who afterwards assumed the title of
Duke ' of St. Sava, because the shrine of that saint was
in his dominions. The same year Ivan NelijM^, the last
of the independent Croatian counts, died, and his estates
were annexed by the Hungarian king and divided
among the Ragusan citizens Matthew, Francis, Peter,
and John of Talovac (or Thallovez) as a reward for
their services to Hungary. Kosa£a, r^ardless of the
Turkish danger, continued his petty intrigues ; he at once
b^an to quarrel with Radosav Paulovitf, who was in a
sense his vassal, and each made a bid for Turkish help.

' Dipl. Rag., 2j8, 330, 236-38, 24a

* Jire&:k, ffandelstrasten, 39 and 4a ' K)aid,.353-53.

* "Omnes dc pn^eoie ipsius domiai Sandali appelUts Cosase,"
Glasnilc, xiii. 159.

' Hencg or Henog, because he received Imperial inveiitture, heno
the name Henegovina.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 225

Ragusa attempted to mediate between them and to
dissuade them from calling in the enemy, but Kosa^
asked for and obtained 1500 Turks to reduce Radosav
to obedience/ In 1438 he invaded the plain of Trebinje,
which was under the latter's jurisdiction, and forced the
inhabitants to fly into Ragusan territory. Later he
proposed to Peter and Matthew of Talovac to attack
Ragusa itself, but they refused, and the Republic on
being informed intrigued against the Duke, and told the
King of Hungary that he was merely an instrument of
the Turks.

In 1436 the Sultan Murad again invaded Bosnia,
and captured Vrhbosna, which henceforth became the
Turkish headquarters in the country.* King Tvrtko
now returned with Hungarian help, but he found his
whole kingdom devastated, Usora, Srebrnica, and
Zvornick held by the Despot of Servia, and the rest
by the Turks, or by vojvods who were Turkish
vassals. He was therefore forced to agree to pay the
Sultan a yearly tribute of 25,000 ducats. The real
ruler of Bosnia was now Murad, who alludes to it as
part of his own dominions in a privilege granted to
the Ragusans in 1442, allowing them to trade ^^in
Romania, Bulgaria, Wallachia, Servia, Albania, Bosnia,
and all other lands, places, and cities under my rule."'
In 1440 he conquered the whole of Servia with the
exception of Belgrad, which was gallantly defended by
the Hungarian garrison commanded by the Ragusan
Giovanni Luccari. The Sultan retired baffled, but the

^ Resti, 1435. » Jire^ek, 85.

' Miklosich, Mon. Sirb.^ 409-11 ; Klaid, 33S-36.

226 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Despot George was forced to fly, and took refuge
at Ragusa with his treasure. The following year the
Sultan, Isak Beg, and the Pasha of Romania all sent
to demand the surrender of the Despot, offering the
Republic his treasure and an increase of territory between
Cattaro and the Drina as a bribe. The citizens refused
to violate the laws of hospitality,^ but at the same time,
as George was an inconvenient guest, it was hinted to
him that he had better leave the city. He agreed, and
suggested going to Constantinople ; but the Senate dis-
suaded him from doing so owing to the parlous condi-
tion of the Eastern Empire. So he went to Hungary
instead on a Ragusan galley.' Murad determined to
punish the Republic for this refusal, and arrested all the
Ragusans in his dominions, the ambassadors themselves
escaping with difficulty to Constantinople. He then
prepared to attack the city by land and sea, and the
citizens strengthened their defences, increased their mili-
tary forces, enlisted foreign mercenaries, and secured the
services of an Italian engineer. The Turkish menace
was notified to the Pope and to the King of Bosnia,
while at the same time the Senate tried to bribe the
Sultan by off^ering to raise the tribute to 1400 ducats.
According to local historians, Murad desisted from his
proposals out of admiration for the magnanimity of the

Mt is reported by the author of the Anonymous Chronicle that when
the Sultan tried to induce the Ragusans by threats and bribes to give up
George, they replied : " We should rather give up our city, our wives,
and our children than George or his family, for we have nothing but our
good faith ; and we should do the same with you if you came here under
our safe- conduct"

> Resti, 1440 and 1441.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 227

citizens in respecting the laws of hospitality ; but the real
reason is probably to be found in his alarm at the atti-
tude of Hungary, and in the fact that the city's defences
promised a long and difficult siege. In any case Murad
was pacified, and in 1443 Ali Beg arrived at Ragusa, and
a treaty of peace was signed which returned to the status
quo} King Sigismund had been operating against the
Turks in various directions, and obtained the loan of
some Ragusan ships to transport the Sultan's rebellious
son (or brother) from Segna to Albania.^ But he was
not very successful in any direction, and it seemed as
though the end of the Bosnian kingdom were at hand.
On his death he was succeeded by Albert, who died soon
after, and then the Polish King Ladislas came to the
throne, and to the rescue. It is interesting to note
that in the embassy sent to him by Tvrtko to ask for
help allusion was made to the common origin of the
Bosnians and the Poles — an early expression of pan-
Slavism.' Ladislas was assisted by the famous leader
John Hunyadi, who in 1442 defeated the Turks again
and again in the Carpathians. In June 1443 Ladislas and
Hunyadi, with an army of Hungarians, Serbs, Bosnians,
and Bulgarians, invaded the enemy's country and de-
feated Murad at the Kunovica Pass near Philippopolis.
Peace was signed between Hungary and the Turks soon
after, by the terms of which Servia was given back to
the Despot George Brankovid, and Bosnia freed from
the invaders, but Stephen Tvrtko died before this was

> Resti, adann.^ 1441 -1443. ' DipL Rag,^ 244, 245.

' Philippi Callimachi, De Rebus Vladislaty lib. i., in Schwandtner's
Scriptores Rer. Hung,^ i« 457 > Klai«f, 357.

228 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

accomplished. He was succeeded by Stephen Thomas,
who in September 1444 held a Diet of the Magnates at
Kre§evo, where the Ragusan envoys came to greet him
on his accession. He confirmed the Republic in posses-
sion of the Primorije and of Canali, for which he was to
receive the Servian tribute of 2cxx> ipperperi on St. Deme-
trius's day, and the Bosnian tribute of 500 on that of
San Biagio. This shows that Bosnia was once more the
chief South-Slavonic State and had annexed all the western
part of the former dominions of the Servian Tsars.
Servia itself was little more than a vassal State of the
Turks. During the war Ragusa had made gifts and
paid tribute to the Sultan to secure immunity for the
Ragusan merchants in Turkish territory and obtain the
renewal of the privileges. To this the King of Hungary
does not seem to have taken much exception.^

In the meanwhile Pope Eugene was preparing an
international crusade against the Turks, and he also sent
a brief to Ragusa, requesting that a contingent of two
galleys should be provided by the Republic, as well as the
loan of three more, to be paid for by himself, to escort his
legate, the Bishop of Corona, which request was granted.*
Shortly afterwards the Senate informed the King of
Hungary that nineteen galleys had touched at Ragusa,
viz. eight Papal ships, two Ragusans, five Venetians,
and four Burgundians, and that they were now collected
at Corfu, while some more Burgundian vessels, and seven
from Aragon, were expected at Modone. The land war in
the Balkans began badly for the Christians. On Novem-
ber 1 1 the Hungarians were utterly routed at Varna,

1 DipL Rag,, 266. > IHd.^ 268, 270.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 229

in Bulgaria, and King Ladislas was killed. The young
Ladislas Posthumus was then elected King of Hungary.
One of the Sultan's first acts after this fight was to raise
the Ragusan tribute as a punishment for sending galleys to
join the Christian fleet.^ George, Despot of Servia, with
characteristic treachery, had arrested and imprisoned Hun-
yadi after the Hungarian defeat. The Ragusan envoy,
Damiano Giorgi, who had come to Belgrad to return
the Despot's treasure, made every efFort to obtain Hun-
yadi's release, but as George would not hear reason, he
induced the Serbs to liberate him without the Despot's
consent. Giorgi and his family were afterwards taken
into the Hungarian service by the new king, Matthew
Corvinus, as a reward, and given high emoluments.
But they never ceased to work in the interests of their
native city by means of their influence at Court. The
efforts of Ragusan citizens in foreign countries were
among the chief causes by which the Republic attained
to and maintained its international position.

In 1447 w^r between Hungary and the Turks broke
out anew, and Hunyadi led an expedition across the
Danube, but the following year he was defeated on the
ill-omened field of Kossovo. On this, as on other
occasions, Ragusa sent a number of boats to Albania to
pick up the fugitives who had escaped across country
from the fury of the invaders, and sent them back to
Hungary or gave them asylum in the town. Peace was
concluded, but fighting continued in Albania, and we
now find the name of Skanderbeg, the great Albanian
hero, mentioned for the first time in the Ragusan annals.

^ Hammer- Purgstall, 453.

230 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

The Senate informed the Hungarian king that the Turks
were besieging Kroia, Skanderbeg's stronghold, with two
large guns, one of which could throw balls weighing
4CX) lbs. ; the town, however, was well defended by
1 5cx^ men, and Skanderbeg was not far off, ever ready
to fall upon the Turks and cut off small detachments
and convoys.^ Ragusa had furnished him both with
money and provisions, and he frequently came to the
city to refit. He was now successful, raised the si^e
of Kroia, and expelled the Turks from a large part of
the country.

We must now return to Stephen Kosa£a, Duke of
St. Sava, and his relations with Ragusa. Like so many
other Servian princes he was a Bogomil by religion, and
when Stephen Thomas, King of Bosnia, abjured that heresy
and became a Catholic, many of his Bogomil subjects fled
into the Duchy to escape persecution, and others into
Turkish territory, while his Orthodox subjects took
refuge in Servia. This caused further discords between
Bosnia and Servia, and John Hunyadi cannot be exempted
from the blame of having induced Stephen Thomas to
ill-treat the heretics ; * in fact he actually quarrelled with
the King because the latter relented from his persecutions.
The King's daughter had married Stephen Kosa2a, who
nominally was a vassal of Bosnia, but he hardly recog-
nised his allegiance at all, and styled himself **by the
Grace of God Duke of St. Sava, Lord of Hlum and the
Littoral, Grand Vojvod of the Bosnian kingdom. Count
of the Drina," &c.' Like his predecessor Sandalj Hranid,
he was one of the fatal men of the Balkans ; although he

» DipL Rag,, 284, Aug. 13, 1450. » Klai<f, 380-81. « IHd,^ 382.

OP THB DOHINICAN MONASTIKT

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 233

tried to resist them later, his attitude contributed not
a little to the Turkish conquest of the South Slavonic
lands. His aim was simply to consolidate and extend
his own dominions at the expense of his neighbours, and
he availed himself for this purpose of the assistance which
the Turks were always only too ready to give. He also
proved Ragusa's most inveterate enemy. In July 1450
he was still on good terms with the Republic,^ but in
145 1 the first dispute arose. The cause, according to
Chalcocondylas, and repeated by Razzi, Gondola, and
others, was that he had taken to himself a Florentine
mistress brought into the country by some Italian mer-
chants, and drove his wife Helen from the Court. She
repaired with her son to Ragusa, and the Duke demanded
that they should be given up. The Republic refused,
and KosaCa, out of revenge, raised duties on Ragusan
trade, opened salt-markets in the Narenta, reoccupied
part of Canali, and laid waste the Republic's territory.
A more likely reason is probably to be found in Kosa^a's
overmastering ambition. The Republic at once demanded
help of the Christian Powers, especially of Hungary,
against the heretical Duke, and an envoy was sent to
the Pope to complain that many Italians were in his
service. His Holiness replied by forbidding all good
Catholics from having anything to do with him. For-
tunately for Ragusa the King of Bosnia was hostile to
Kosaca on account of the indignities to which the latter
had subjected his wife (the King's daughter). For the

^ Miklosich, Mon, Serb,, 441 ; according to Resti he had had a quarrel
with the city in 1449 concerning the castle of Soko, which he had tried
to capture by treachery.

234 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

same reason his son Vladislav left R^usa and raised a
rebellion against his father, allying himself with the
Republic, to whom he promised to give back Canali as
soon as he was master of the Duchy.^ In December 145 1
Ragusa contracted an alliance with Stephen Thomas, who
undertook '*to declare war without delay and carry it on
without interruption against the Duke Stephen Vukiid
(Kosa&i), his government, his cities, and his servants,
with all the glorious strength of Our kingdom,' with
Our servants, and Our friends in open warfare, as is
suitable to Our lordship and Our kingdom, provided
that no obstacle impede us and no Turkish army attack
us." * The Despot of Servia and other minor potentates
joined the league against ^^this perfidious heretic and
Patarene." * Ragusa also sent an envoy to Hungary to
urge the King to intervene, stating that Kosa£a was
intriguing with the Venetians, the Turks, and the King
of Aragon. It was suggested that this was a good
moment for Hungarian action, as the Turks were in
a state of anarchy in consequence of the death of the
Sultan, and that a Hungarian army might now occupy
Kodiviet and thus prevent them from ever entering
Bosnia again/ Hostilities commenced in 1452, and at
first Kosa^ was unlucky, for a number of his barons
rose against him and joined Ragusa, and the commander
of the leaguers forces was his own son. But soon after
a civil war broke out in Bosnia. The Herz^ovinian
nobles fought against the Duke while Kosa£a was de-
vastating Ragusan territory. At Ragusa^s instance a

^ Miklosich, 444-47 ; Klai<f, 385. ' Klaid, 386.

> DipL Rag., 274. « Ibid.^ 292.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 235

legate was sent by Pope Nicholas V. to Kosa&i, who
received him amiably, promising to make peace with
the Republic and become a Catholic. But this was
only to gain time, and as soon as the Turks once more
appeared on the frontier and assisted him he again made
war on Ragusa, and a Turkish force approached the city,
which was now in grave danger. In July 1453 Vladislav
expressed a wish to make peace with his father, and the
Duke, thus strengthened, again invaded Canali, took
Ragusavecchia, and captured a body of Ragusans under
Marino Cerva near Bergato. Further details of these
operations are wanting, but peace was made at last
through the intervention of the Papal legate and of a
Turkish Vizir, and signed at Novi, April 10, 1454, con-
firming the status quo. Kosa^a promised the Ragusans
that he would never attack them again " save by order
of the Grand Signior, the Sultan of Turkey, Mehmet
Beg" (Mohammed 11.).^ It is thus clear that already
the Sultan's influence in this part of the world was pre-
dominant. In 1453 the whole of Europe was shaken to
its foundations by the capture of Constantinople by the
Turks. This event, however, did not have much direct
, effect on Bosnia and Hlum, as the Turkish conquest
there had already begun. Every month some fresh raid
was made, dealing death and destruction, and yet every-
where the invaders found Slavonic princes ready to help
them against others who still held out.* The first con-
sequence which the fall of Constantinople had on Ragusa

* Miklosich, 457-60 ; Klaid, 390.

^ In 1456 Mohammed II. addressed a letter to ''the Sandjak Beg of
the Duchy and to the Kadi of Novi and Hou£ " (Miklosich, 465-69).

k.'

236 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

was the raising of her tribute to the Sultan to fCXDO
ducats. The city again became a haven of refuge for
fugitives from the territories invaded by the Turks, and
many Greeks from Constantinople, including members
of the most distinguished families, fled to Ragusa^ and
remained there for a while. Thus we find some of
the Palseologi, Comneni, Lascaris, and Cantaconzeni,
and learned men like John Lascaris, Chalcocondylas,
Emmanuel Marulus, Theodore Spandukinos, author
of a history of the Turks, Paul Tarchaniotcs, father of
the historian John, and many others. No doubt these
men contributed to the revival of learning in Dalmatia,
as they did in the Italian towns. The refugees were
provided with food, shelter, and money, and were after-
wards sent on board Ragusan galleys free of chaise to
Ancona.^ The citizens would have been willing that
they should settle permanently at Ragusa, but the Senate
feared that as many of them were such distinguished
men the Sultan might use this as a pretext for aggression.
A certain number, however, did remain.

After the capture of Constantinople it was hoped
that Mohammed would content himself with being
overlord of the remaining Balkan lands not under his
direct sway. But he soon evinced more dangerous
intentions, and proceeded to establish his complete
ascendency, destroying all the independent or semi-
independent States. Of these the first to be attacked
was Servia, which the Sultan claimed through his step-
mother, a Servian princess. The miserable remnant of
the great Tsar Dusan's Empire was reduced to a small

^ Appudini, i. 204 ; Engel, § 639; Luccari, 17a

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 237

part of the present kingdom of Servia. Mohammed's
object was to prepare for the struggle with Hungary,
the only Power which he seriously feared, for Genoa
was now weak, and Venice's first thought was ** not to
recover the bulwark of Christendom from the hands
of the Muslim, but to preserve her own commercial
privileges under the Infidel ruler." ^ In 1454 the
Turks invaded Servia, captured Ostrovica, and besieged
Smederevo (Semendria) ; but John Hunyadi led an army
against them, relieved that stronghold, defeated them at
Krusevac, and burnt the fortress of Vidin on the Danube.
But the following year Mohammed advanced in person
and captured Novobrdo,^ with its valuable mines,
" Totam religionem Christianam libidinoso ambicio-
soque animo dicioni suae ascripsit, flagratque cupidine
mundi," as the Ragusan reports informed the Hungarian
king. The Republic suffered ill-effects from this capture,
because the Ragusan merchants who had a flourishing
trade there were driven out. In July 1456 Mohammed
besieged Belgrad, but was defeated by the courage of
the defenders aided by the brilliant strategy of Hunyadi.
Unfortunately this great leader died soon afterwards,
and Hungary was crippled by internal troubles. In
1457 Fra Marino da Siena travelled through Dalmatia
to preach a crusade against the Turks and collect money
for that purpose. He raised 4CXX3 ducats at Ragusa
alone,* and the King of Hungary requested the Senate
to use its influence to induce him to devote the money

* Prof. Bury in the Cambridge Modem History^ i. p. 68.
' '' Caput illius patriae et ob mineras belli nervus."
» DipL Rag,, 347.

238 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

to a land crusade, as the danger on that side was more
pressing, rather than to a naval expedition. By the end
of the year the whole of Servia was subjugated except
Belgrad and the Danubian provinces. On the death of
Ladislas, Matthew Corvinus, Hunyadi^s son, was elected
by the Diet to succeed him (January 1458).

Ragusa, which had been described by King Ladislas
as the ** scutum confiniorum rcgni nostri Dalmatiae," had
been threatened by the Turks in 1455, but not seriously,
as they were occupied elsewhere. In 1458 Mohammed
again menaced the Republic, and sent Isak Beg into
Bosnia to order the vassal princes to capture the city
if she did not immediately make submission to him and
increase her tribute.^ Hungarian aid was solicited, and
the citizens prepared to defend themselves; but once
more the danger was averted, as the Turks had other
more pressing matters to attend to.

In 1459 the final conquest of Bosnia was begun.
King Stephen Thomas had paid tribute to the Sultan
since 1449, and after the fall of Constantinople he had
sent envoys to do homage to the victor,* but at the
same time he was imploring the help of the Pope ; this
caused much discontent among his Bogomil subjects,
who had already shown themselves not unfriendly to
the Turks. But after Hunyadi's victory at Belgrad
Stephen was encouraged to further resistance ; he refused
to pay the tribute, and actually intended to lead a crusade
in person.' The Pope ordered his legate in Dalmatia to

1 Dipi. Rag., 353.

' John Sabota's letter, quoted by Klaid, 398.

' Theiner, Mon, Hung,, ii. 291-92, 297.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 239

raise funds for him, and enjoined Kosa^ to help him.^
Stephen began to attack the Turkish garrisons in Servia,
but after taking a few towns he came to terms with the
Sultan early in 1458, and paid him a tribute of 9000
ducats. On the death of Lazar, the Despot of Servia,
the King of Hungary conferred the despotate on Stephen
the Younger, or Toma§evic, the Bosnian king's son, who
had married Lazar's daughter, Helena. Thus Bosnia
acquired the Danubian region of Servia, including
Semendria. But Mohammed determined to conquer
even these districts once for all, and to punish Stephen
Thomas for his audacity. The Servians themselves
were dissatisfied with their new ruler, because he was
a devout Catholic, and they regarded him simply as a
Hungarian viceroy. When in June 1459 Mohammed
approached Semendria the inhabitants opened their gates
to him. Owing to its position at the confluence of the
Morava and the Danube it was the key to the whole
country, and its fall, which spelt the end of Bosnian rule
in Servia, caused consternation throughout Europe. It
was attributed by Matthew Corvinus to Stephen Thomas
and his son. While this quarrel was going on and the
Hungarian king was at war with Germany, the Turkish
general, Hassan Pasha, had obliged the King of Bosnia
to let him pass through the country with a large army.
The next year hostilities broke out between Paul
SperanCi<5, Banus of Croatia, and Stephen Thomas, in
the course of which the latter was killed. His son,
Stephen TomaSevic, succeeded to him, and was the last
King of Bosnia (1461).

^ Klaidi 401.

^ •

240 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

The country was indeed in a most terrible condition
— the Turks threatened it from the south, the Banus
of Croatia from the west, and internally the Bogomils
were in open revolt and protected by the Duke of St. Sava.
The Papal legate managed, however, to bring about a
reconciliation between the latter and Stephen Tomasevic,
who now retired to Jajce. There he collected his mag-
nates around him, and was solemnly crowned, being the
first and last Bosnian king who was crowned with the
favour of the Catholic Church,^ styling himself "King
of Servia, Hlum, the Littoral, Dalmatia, Croatia, Dolnji-
Kralj, the Western Land, Usora, Soli, Prodrinje," &c.
He granted many privileges to the Ragusans, confirmed
the Republic in possession of all its territories, and pro-
mised to pay his father's debts towards it.^ By the end
of 1 46 1 he managed to make peace with the Banus of
Croatia and his own rebels, and obtained help against
the Turks from Venice, Ragusa, and elsewhere. Kosaca
himself was in danger from the Turks, who only sup-
ported him as long as he was of any use to them ; he too
applied to Ragusa for money and ammunition. Pius H.
succeeded after long negotiations in reconciling the King
of Hungary and Stephen TomaSevic, the latter paying
the former a sum of money and giving up a fortress.
But in spite of this slightly improved outlook the
final ruin was fast approaching. The Bosnian king's
Catholicism had alienated his Bogomil subjects, many
of whom had taken refuge among the Turks, while
several of the magnates were holding treasonable inter-
course with the enemy.

* Klaid, 419. ' Miklosich, 485-91.

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.>.'i

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 241

The Sultan on hearing of Stephen's alliance with
Hungary sent to demand the tribute, and this being
refused he vowed vengeance, but stayed his hand for
a short while to attend to other affairs. The despairing
King implored help of all his neighbours, and prepared
for a last stand. More troops were levied in Bosnia,
and envoys were sent to Italy and Croatia to enlist mer-
cenaries.* But the support of his people was lacking,
and resistance hopeless. Ragusa could not give men,
being herself hard pressed, but gave arms and ammuni-
tion.* Finding himself in desperate straits he sent envoys
to Constantinople to offer to pay the tribute once more
and ask for a fifteen years' truce. Mohammed granted
this request, fully intending to attack Bosnia at once.
The Servian Michael of Ostrovica, who heard the Sultan
discussing this treachery, warned the Bosnian ambas-
sadors, but they laughed at him and returned home
with the good news. Mohammed then began his north-
ward march with 15,000 horse and countless foot, and
let out that he intended to attack Hungary itself, so
that Matthew Corvinus should not send help to Bosnia.
The army marched through OskQb to Senice, and an
advanced guard under Mohammed Pasha captured Pod-
rinje in Bosnia. The great fortress of Bobovac, which
had hitherto resisted all Turkish sieges, was next at-
tacked. It might easily have held out for many months,
but the Governor, Knez Radak, a Bogomil who had been
converted to Catholicism by force, surrendered it with-
out a struggle. The traitor, however, was beheaded

^ May 6, 1463, Ra^ki in Starine vi. of the South Slav. Acad., i sqq,

« IHd.

242 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

by the Turks, and a large part of the inhabitants made
prisoners, including the very envoys who had brought
the charter of the truce from Constantinople. The
news of the fall of Bobovac caused the most widespread
dismay throughout the land, and the Turkish advance
was almost unopposed, many of the Bogomil nobles going
over to the enemy. In eight days about eighty towns
had surrendered. The King fled from Jajce to Kljuc,
where he was pursued by Mohammed Pasha and be-
sieged. On a promise that his life would be spared if he
surrendered, he gave himself up, and was brought as a
prisoner before the Sultan at Jajce, which had also opened
its gates to him on the understanding that its inhabi-
tants should be unmolested. The craven King helped
to make the conquest all the easier by authorising his
governors and officers to surrender (June 1463). The
Sultan now wished to complete his conquests by annex-
ing the Herzegovina. Stephen Kosa^a at first meditated
flight to Ragusa, but then determined to hold out for
a time, and sent his son, Vladislav, to levy troops on
the coast. The Turkish advance through the bare and
rocky Karst mountains of the Duchy proved more diffi-
cult than was anticipated. Mohammed besieged Blagaj,
the Duke*s residence, in vain, captured Kl]u6 (not the
Bosnian town of that name) and Ljubuski, but soon
lost them again. ^ A few weeks later he abandoned the
scheme and returned to Constantinople. The Bosnian
kingdom had collapsed entirely; 100,000 prisoners had
been taken, and 30,000 youths enrolled in the corps of
Janissaries. The Sultan was in doubt as to what to do

1 Ra^i, idid

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 243

with Stephen Toma§evi(5. It was his invariable practice
to put the rulers of the lands which he conquered to
death, but in this case his lieutenant had pledged the Im-
perial word that the King should be spared. A learned
Persian mufti helped him out of the difficulty by declar-
ing that a safe-conduct given without the Sultan's direct
assent to be invalid, and he himself cut off Stephen's
head. The King's widow, Mary Helena, fled to Croatia
and afterwards to Spalato, accompanied by many magnates,
including the Vojvod Ivani§ Vlatkovic, and eventually
died in Hungary. The Queen-mother, Catherine, lin-
gered for a while in the convent of Sutjeska (Herze-
govina), until the advance of the Turks forced her to
escape by way of Stagno to Ragusa, where she received
hospitality and was given a pension of 500 ducats a year.
She remained there until 1475, when she retired to a
convent in Rome ; she died in the Eternal City three
years later, and was buried in the church of Ara Coeli.

Countless fugitives from Bosnia now fled to the Dal-
matian towns, especially to the ever-hospitable Ragusa,
until at last Mohammed's attention was called by a
Franciscan monk to the depopulation of the country,
and he was induced to modify his policy of persecution
and grant privileges to that Order, which thenceforth
ministered to the spiritual needs of the Bosnian Catholics.^
Religious differences had thus brought about the final
ruin of the land, and subjected it to the awful blight of
Turkish misrule for over four centuries ; but they sur-
vived the conquest. The Bogomils gradually dropped
into Muhamedanism, which from its purely mono-

* Klaid, 433 sqq.

244 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

theistic character was less repugnant to them than
Catholicism ; but a few adhered to their old tenets for
a long time, and there were Bogomils in Bosnia and
the Herzegovina until sixty or seventy years ago ; in-
deed it is asserted that Bogomil rites are still practised
by the Muhamedans of certain villages near Konjica
and elsewhere. The Orthodox Church, however, gained
large numbers of adherents, and is to-day the most
numerous of the three communities in Bosnia and the
Herzegovina.

Meanwhile the Ragusans were cowering behind their
walls, expecting every moment to hear the tramp of the
Turkish legions advancing to overwhelm them. The out-
works on the Monte Sergio were strengthened, the churches
outside the city and the houses in the suburbs of Pille and
Plo<5e were pulled down, the wells at Ombla, Gravosa, and
the neighbourhood poisoned, and the Government was
authorised to destroy the aqueduct if necessary. The
fortifications of Stagno were improved, and the Count
entrusted with the defence of the frontier. All the
Ragusan galleys in Dalmatia and elsewhere were recalled
to defend the home waters, crossbowmen and rowers
were levied in all the islands, a corps of infantry and
lances raised in Apulia and placed under the command
of Spirito d'Altamura, and a Herzegovinian contingent
under Ivanis Vlatkovi<5 was formed. A loan of 15,000
ducats was raised to provide for war expenses.^ During
his raid through the Duchy the Sultan came very near
to Ragusa, which he had determined to attack in person
and occupy, as it would be a most useful port on the

^ Ra^ki, ibid,; DipL Rag.y April 30, 1463.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 245

Adriatic and a basis for operations against Venice and
Italy. While processions and prayers of intercession
were being held in the town, a messenger arrived from
the Beglerbeg of Rumelia ordering the Republic to 1
do homage to Mohammed. This was done; but the '
Sultan demanded that the citizens should give up all I
their territory to him, and that the ambassadors should
follow him to Thrace as hostages. The Senate was
filled with consternation, as the surrender of the terri-
tory would be but a preliminary to the capture of the
city itself. But one of the Senators, Serafino Bona, pro-
posed that a reply should be drafted to the effect that
while the Republic was ready to give up its territory to =
the Turks, it would place the city itself under the direct
protection of Hungary and admit a Hungarian garrison.
This diplomatic answer saved the situation, for the
Sultan, who had heard of the great preparations which \
were being made in Hungary, had no mind to be attacked
by the enemy from the south-west as well as from the
north. Moreover, his troops were being severely handled
in the rocky gorges of the Herzegovina by Kosa^a and
his mountaineers ; so he abandoned the enterprise for
the time being.^

In the south a vigorous resistance was maintained
by Skanderbeg,* the only Christian leader worthy of

^ Engel, § 40. According to the legend, while Mohammed was riding
towards Ragusa with hostile intentions he was stopped by the appear-
ance of a venerable old man, and his horse refused to go forward ; the
Sultan was frightened by the omen and abandoned the enterprise. The
city's saviour was^ of course, San Biagio.

' The name is a Turkish form of Alexander, with the designation beg
added.

246 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the name since the death of Hunyadi. Captured by the
Turks when a child and brought up as a Muhamedan
in the corps of Janissaries, he distinguished himself by
his prowess in the Turkish service. But during the
Servian campaign of 1442 he was suddenly inspired with
a feeling of duty towards his native country and the
faith of his ancestors. He abandoned the Turkish host
with 300 followers, obtained possession of the fortress of
Kroia by stratagem, and from that day forth maintained
in the wild fastnesses of Albania a desperate and successful
struggle against the Turks. Only once was he defeated
(in 1456); but on countless other occasions he inflicted
overwhelming defeats on the enemy, and he came to
be regarded as the chief bulwark of Christianity in the
Balkans, assuming the title of '* Athleta Christianitatis.''
In 1444 he summoned a council of Albanian leaders
at the Venetian town of Alessio to concert defensive
measures. Army after army was hurled against him,
only to be repulsed and cut to pieces. After the capture
of Constantinople Mohammed sent Hamsa Pasha with
50,000 men into Albania, but he was defeated by Skan-
derbeg with only 11,000. A few months later the
Albanian hero passed through Ragusa on his way to
Apulia to obtain help from Alfonso V., King of Naples,
and having received promises of a contingent of Neapo-
litan troops, he returned in disguise to Ragusa, when he
was given a ship to go to Redoni in Albania. According
to Razzi,^ the Sultan heard of this visit and raised the
Ragusan tribute in consequence. The Neapolitan his-
torian Summonte, on the other hand, states that Skan-

^ Razzi, lib. ii. cap. v.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 247

derbeg himself did not come to Naples on this occasion,
but sent three ambassadors. He adds that Albania was
then placed under Neapolitan protection. What is certain,
however, is that 1000 men and 18 guns were sent from
Naples to the Athlete of Christendom. In 1458 Alfonso
died, and his son Ferdinand found his succession disputed
by John of Anjou, who had the support of most of the
barons. He then appealed to Skanderbeg for help, and
the chivalrous Albanian, who was not forgetful of past
services, being at the time undisturbed by the Turks,
crossed over to Apulia in 1459, defeated Ferdinand's
enemies, established the King securely on the throne,
and returned to Albania the following year. Ragusa
again furnished him with money and arms, recommended
his cause to the Pope, and gave him ships for service
along the coast and between Albania and Italy. It is
probable that all his sea journeys as well as those of his
ambassadors were performed on Ragusan ships. He also
deposited sums of money in the treasury of the Republic.
Between 1460 and 1461 he defeated four Turkish
armies of 300,000 or 400,000 men each, and obliged
Mohammed to make peace with him. Early in 1462 he
again visited Ragusa, where he was greatly honoured by
the citizens, and furnished with further supplies of grain,
wine, sheep, &c. When, in 1463, Pope Pius II. pro-
claimed a crusade, Skanderbeg was induced to violate
the truce — as indeed Mohammed would have done had
it suited him — and joined the expedition. On August
4, 1464, he gained a splendid victory at Ochrida, but
twelve days later Pius II. died, and the crusade collapsed,
and Skanderbeg found himself alone, exposed to the full

248 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

fury of the Turks. But he again routed them, and
sent envoys to Italy to ask for assistance. Mohammed
in person led a large army into Albania and laid siege
to Kroia. Skanderbeg remained outside the town, as
he had done in the previous siege, with a few thousand
warriors, and repeatedly fell upon the enemy, inflicting
heavy losses on them. Mohammed, hearing that his
northern frontiers were threatened by the King of
Hungary, and his Asiatic provinces by the Prince of
Caramania, departed from Albania, leaving Balaban
Pasha to continue the siege with 19,000 men (he had
lost 30,000 already). Skanderbeg himself went to
Rome to obtun further help from the Powers. But
although he was received with great splendour, he ob-
tained no material assistance save a little money. Venice,
however, sent him some troops, and on the death of
Balaban Pasha the siege of Kroia was raised. In 1466
the Sultan returned in person with 130,000 men to
attack Durazzo and Kroia, but failed in both attempts,
and returned discomfited to Constantinople, Further
contingents arrived from Venice and Naples, and Skan-
derbeg summoned another conference of chiefs at Alessio
to discuss defensive measures. But on January 17, 1467,
the Athlete of Christendom died of fever. The Persian
war continued to give the Albanians a short respite, but
the end of their independence was not far ofl: Skander-
beg had not had time to consolidate his country so that
it would remain united after his death, and his dis-
appearance was followed by complete anarchy.

In the north the King of Hungary was making
desperate efforts to recover Bosnia, and in his operations

THK OUANDO COLUMN

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 251

he received help from Ragusa. A few months after the
murder of Stephen TomaSevid, Matthew Corvinus in-
vaded Bosnia, and with the help of several of the
magnates, including Kosa^*s son, Vladislav Vuk£id, re-
conquered Dolnji-Kralj and Usora, with about thirty
towns and fortresses, including Jajce, Zve£aj, Banja-
luka, TeSanji, and Srebrenik, only Upper Bosnia and
Podrinje remaining under the Turks. The King re-
warded Vladislav for his services by giving him the
counties of Uskoplje and Rama. In the spring of 1464
Mohammed again invaded Bosnia with 30,000 men and
besieged Jajce, but was forced to retire. The part of
Bosnia now under Hungary was formed into two Banats
— ^Jajce and Srebrenik — and the Governor, Nicholas of
Ilok, Vojvod of Transsilvania, was entitled " King of
Bosnia,'* so as to uphold the Hungarian claims over the
whole country. In the south another Hungarian expe-
dition was made in 1465 from the Narenta. The
Ragusan Senate ordered a bridge to be built across that
river, at the Republic's expense, near the castle of
Po^itelj, so as to facilitate the passage of the Hungarian
army, and all the necessary materials and workmen were
sent there for the purpose. Two Hungarian envoys
came to Ragusa to arrange the plan of campaign. The
Herzegovina was still ruled by Kosa^a, but Turkish
raids from southern Bosnia were frequent, and it was
important to keep the enemy from the Narenta's
mouth.^ Po^itelj, a quaint and picturesque hill town,
came to be the centre of a series of operations ag^ijnst
the Turks, which lasted until 1470. In 1465':^

^ DipL Rag.y Ref.^ Dec 2, 7, and 28, 1465 ; Jan. 3, 1466.

252 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

find the Ragusans giving '' 4 schopetos parvos, 4 taras-
sios de minoribus," 200 lbs. of powder, 1000 beams, and
icx>o " clavos " for the defence of Podtelj, and two car-
penters, two marangoni^ and some boats. Three bom-
bards, building materials, ropes, bullets, provisions, and
more firelocks and boats were added later, together with
a stafF of boat-builders and engineers.^

In 1466 Kosa^a died, having deposited his will at
Ragusa. By its terms his estates were divided between
his three sons, Stephen, Vladislav, and Vlatko. To the
first he also left his crown, some plate and jewels, and
30,000 ducats, to the third 30,000 ducats, to his widow
Cecilia 1000 ducats, some plate, brocades, and robes;
the rest of his personalty was to be divided equally
among his three sons, save 10,000 ducats for his soul.^
But their possessions were constantly menaced by the
Turks, and the youngest brother became a renegade and
took the name of Achmed Beg. The other two soon
quarrelled among themselves, and each asked for Turkish
assistance. In 1469 Hamsa Beg raided Ragusan territory,
and an attack on the town was momentarily expected.
A second raid was made in 1470, and Postranja and
Canali were laid waste, the castle of Soko alone holding
out. The Ragusan merchants in Trebinje were also
plundered. As Hamsa refused to hear reason, the
garrison was increased, the galleys armed, and the moat
before the Porta Pile dug.* At this time Poc^itelj was
being besieged.

» •

: * DipL Rag,y Ref,^ Feb. 5, 1466, to Sept. 16, 1470.
* Fo6i6i Spomenict Srpski, ii. 130, Dec. 9, 1466.
' Resti, 1470-1471.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 253

The Ragusans had been trying to induce the Sultan
to reduce the tribute from 5000 to 3000 ducats, stating
that the constant troubles in Slavonia and Servia had
made them very poor. As Mohammed was engaged in
the Persian war, his vizirs agreed to the reduction, but
when he returned he not only insisted on the remaining
2000 being paid, but raised the sum to 8000.^ There
was nothing for it but to pay, as Turkish karaulas
(block-houses) were only two miles from the gates, and
an attack was feared at any moment. But it was not
paid for nothing, for the Ragusans obtained many new ,'
privileges ; moreover, the increase was in part due to the
fact that the Turks were the successors to various native
princes whom they had dispossessed, and to whom the
Republic had formerly paid tribute. The Pope renewed
the exemption to trade with the Infidel. The one
danger was that the Turks should suddenly desire to
capture the city, as on more than one occasion they had
been on the point of doing. It required all the skilful
diplomacy of the Senate to avoid this contingency.

In January 1474 the Turks renewed their incursions
into Albania. Skanderbeg on his deathbed had entrusted
the task of defending his country to the Venetians,
which they, with the help of the Montenegrins and some
Albanian tribes, attempted to do. They themselves
held various towns on or near the coast, including
Scutari, which was now besieged by an immense Turkish
army. Among the defenders were several Ragusans,
and the Republic was throughout the siege well supplied
with news of all the operations. The Turkish leader

» Engel, § 40.

254 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

was Suleiman Beg, a Bosnian renegade, while the Venetians
were led by Andrea Loredano, and their allies by Ivan
Crnojevnid, a Montenegrin. Hostilities began with the
defeat of the Turkish fleet at the mouth of the Boiana
by Gritti, but by May the enemy had invested the town.
The garrison consisted of only 1 300 men, while it con-
tained 700 non-combatants, but it was well provided
with arms, ammunition, and food. The besiegers
brought up much heavy artillery drawn by camels.
The Ragusan Senate was convinced that if Scutari fell
it was all up with Albania and Dalmatia, and that even
Italy would be in danger. The Turks delivered an
attack and eflFected a breach in the walls ; the garrison
not wishing to exhaust themselves, waited until the
enemy had entered, and then fell upon them with
such fury that they drove them back, killing 2000
and wounding an immense number. Suleiman Beg
announced this disaster to the Sultan, and then abandoned
the siege, having lost 7000 men killed and 14,000
wounded in all. As some Ragusans had taken part in
the defence, the Sultan again raised the Republic's tribute
to 10,000 ducats.^ In 1477 the Turks attacked Kroia,
Skanderbeg's old stronghold, and as the Venetians could
not relieve it, it fell, while numerous bodies of Turkish
cavalry made inroads into Friuli from Bosnia. The
Venetians finally made peace, giving up Scutari and
Kroia, and agreeing to pay 10,000 ducats a year for
trading rights in the Turkish dominions. They now
held only Durazzo, Antivari, and Butrinto, all the rest
of Albania being occupied by the enemy.

^ Hammer-Purgstall, iii. 191.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 255

During these operations Ragusa was more than once
in serious danger, and Pope Sixtus V. granted full in-
dulgence to all those who contributed to the defence of
the city, whether natives or foreigners. He said of it :
" In oculis Turchorum quasi propugnaculum sita existit,
maribus satis munita, florenti populo decorata ac armis et
aliis instrumentis bellicis abundans, et hominum suorum
virilitate parata adversus prsedictorum incursus semper
existit." The Sultan, he adds, was planning to attack it
with an immense army, and it could not hold out unless
other Christians came to its assistance.^ The city, how-
ever, was saved once more by the crushing defeat of the
Turkish army by the Hungarians in Transsilvania.

In 1 48 1 Mohammed II. died, and was succeeded by
his son Bayazet. Iskender Pasha, Beglerbeg of Servia,
then ravaged Dalmatia, with the excuse that on the
death of the Sultan all the treaties made by him were
invalid unless renewed by his successor. Venice at once
sent ambassadors to obtain their renewal, but the negotia-
tions proved difficult, and lasted over a year. Ragusa
was more fortunate; all her privileges were confirmed,
and the tribute reduced to 3000 ducats.^ In 1483
Bayazet determined to complete the conquest of the
Herzegovina, and sent a large force to invade it under
one Gjursevic Beg, a Bosnian renegade. This time the
task proved easier, as the succession of raids had broken
the back of the Herzegovinians* resistance. Vlatko fled
from Castelnuovo to Ragusa, and thence to Hungary.
This so incensed the Turks that they again threatened
to seize the city, but the Republic appeased them by a

^ Hammer-Purgstall, iv. 4.

i\«

256 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

gift of 12,500 ducats to the Sultan and 500 to his
Ministers as a bribe, while it agreed to pay an additional
100 a year to Aliza, the newly-appointed Sandjakbeg
of the Herzegovina. It is said that Aliza had already
come to an understanding with the commander of the
Hungarian guard in Ragusa to enter the town, but the
Senate discovered the plot in time, and had the traitor
strangled, together with two accomplices.^ A Ragusan
citizen named G. Niccol6 Palmotta was put to death for
intriguing with the Turks at Castelnuovo.

With the conquest of the Herzegovina Ragusa*s
relations with the Turks became more intimate. The
whole of Bosnia, save Jajce and the surrounding district,
the Herzegovina, all Albania excepting a few Venetian
towns, parts of Croatia, Slavonia, and Hungary were in
Turkish hands. Dalmatia as far as the Narenta's mouth
was still Venetian, and so was Cattaro, although a strip
of the coast of the Bocche, including Castelnuovo, was
held by the Turks. Ragusa's land frontier was thus
encompassed on all sides by the Infidel save in the
north, where the marshy delta of the Narenta divided
it from Venetian territory. Hungary was weak on her
southern border, and much occupied with the German
wars in the north ; but although Ragusa could hope for
little help in that quarter, she kept on good terms with
the King, and continued to furnish him with information
as to the movements of the enemy, and to pay him the
tribute of 500 ducats at irregular intervals. This she
did partly for commercial reasons, the Hungarian trade

* Engel, § 40.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 257

being still important, and partly because she hoped that
the cause of Christendom in the Western Balkans might
yet triumph under Hungarian auspices.

On the other hand, the old jealousy of Venice was by
no means dead, and the Ragusans were suspicious of her
every movement, fearing that by a coup de main she might
capture the city, and thus unite her Dalmatian possessions
with Cattaro and gain an unbroken line of posts all down
the Adriatic. That Ragusa's fears of Venetian hostility
were not groundless became manifest the following year.
Venice was then at war with Alfonso of Ferrara ; the
causes of that war ofFer a curious parallel with those
of Venetian hostility towards Ragusa. Like Ragusa,
Ferrara was an independent State placed between the
main Venetian possessions and an outpost — in this case
Ravenna. In addition there were disagreements on
account of the salt monopoly and the navigation dues,
as in the case of Ragusa. A Venetian flotilla was
blockading the entrance to the Po and besieging the
city. Some Ragusan galleys happened to be up the
river, and were detained by Ippolito d'Este, who utilised
them and their crews for the defence. When the
Venetian fleet under Angelo Trevisan attempted to sail
in it was repulsed by the shore batteries, with the help,
it is said, of the Ragusan gunners. The Venetian
Government out of revenge issued a decree which greatly
hampered Ragusan trade with Venice and her possessions
(September 21, 1484). Ragusan residents and merchants
were expelled from Venice, and all Ragusan ships forced
to pay 1 00 ducats as anchorage dues, while some of them
were seized as compensation for the damage suflFered at

258 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Fcrrara.^ Other impositions were also levied, and
although the dispute was settled soon after, mutual
distrust continued as before.

In 1490 Matthew Corvinus died, and the disap-
pearance of that able and warlike monarch caused a
recrudescence of Turkish activity in all directions. In
1492 the Republic suffered from the raids of Kosaca*s
renegade son Achmet. Kosa£a had left large sums of
money at Ragusa in trust for his sons, and Achmet, who
had already received his share, now demanded that it
should be paid over again, and accused the Republic
before the Sultan of having robbed him. Although
the Ragusan ambassadors showed Bayazet Achmet's
receipt, the Sultan ordered the Republic to pay 100,000
ducats at once. The new King of Hungary, Ladislas II.,
promised help, but as it was not forthcoming the
Republic had to pay.

In 1499 ^^^ ^^^y ^^^ again in danger of a Turkish
attack, and envoys were sent to Hungary to raise a force
of mercenaries. The reasons for this hostility, besides
the usual desire on the part of the Turks to occupy so
excellent a port, were due to the fact that many of the
Bosnian and Herzegovinian nobles who had taken refuge
at Ragusa frequently made raids into the conquered
territory, doing much damage to its new occupants.
The Turks also believed that the Ragusans sometinies
helped even the Venetians. In fact, the reports of the
Ragusan " exploratores " (spies) and traders in all parts
of the Ottoman dominions were often transmitted to
other Christian potentates besides the King of Hungary.

^ Engel, i<W.

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 259

On this occasion the Venetians were informed that the
Turkish fleet was to be ready in May, and that bridges
were being built across all the rivers in Albania.^ But
apparently the Sultan put oflF his expedition, and
decided to send only four ships to Apulia to fetch
the body of Djem.' He altered his plans again in
June, got ready a large fleet, and concentrated the
army at UskUb. In July the land force had advanced
northward to Pirot; by August it had crossed into
Albania, and was encamped on the coast opposite Corfu.
The fleet left Gallipoli, and artillery was sent to Albania
and the Morea.'

The last years of the fifteenth century and the first
of the sixteenth were marked by plagues and earth-
quakes at Ragusa. Razzi mentions epidemics of various
kinds in 1500, 1503, and 1505, when 1600 persons died;
and earthquakes in 1496 and 1504. The Republic's
trade was also harried by the numerous corsairs which
infested the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. In 15 10
seven Candiot pu*ate barques captured two Ragusan gal-
leys laden with Ragusan goods worth 30,000 ducats, as
well as valuable property belonging to some Floren-
tines ; but the stolen goods were recovered through the
action of the Venetian Senate. The Sultan of Egypt,
who, like other Muhamedan potentates, did not always
distinguish between one Christian race and another, de-
tsuned five Ragusan vessels at Alexandria as a reprisal
for the capture of some Moorish ships by the Knights of

* DipL Rag,y 412.

' An exiled prince of the Imperial family, and a pretender to the
throne. He was a notable figure at the court of Pope Alexander VI.
' Valentinellii extracts from Marin Sanudo, p. 31, April 10, 1499.

; -

*/ ^

260 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Rhodes. But the Sultan was pacified, and he returned
the ships and granted the Ragusans permission to trade
with the East Indies through Egypt and Syria. In 1509
the Republic had availed itself of Venice's difficulties con-
sequent on the League of Cambrai to obtain the removal
of trade restrictions, and it provided Venice with grain
and war stores in return.^ The following year it in-
formed the Venetian Government that the Sultan had
made a truce with Hungary in order to wrest Dalmatia
from them. In 1 5 1 2 the Sultan once more raised the
tribute from 3000 to 5000 ducats, and threatened the
city with an expedition of 500 sail, probably in conse-
quence of the assistance given to Venice ; but again the
danger passed ofF.

In 1520 an earthquake, far more severe than any
shock hitherto experienced, occurred, and did damage
valued at 100,000 ducats in the town, and 50,000 in the
neighbourhood. The Monte Bergato seemed about to
fall and overwhelm Ragusa, *' but the city was saved
through the intervention of the San Biagio and of the
Blessed Virgin.** * Twenty persons were killed and many
injured. The little chapel of San Salvatore was erected
as a votive offering to express the gratitude of the citi-
zens at the salvation of the town. Six years later a
terrible pestilence broke out, and wrought fearful havoc
in spite of the precautions taken to isolate the sick. The
death-rate was about 100 a day,^ and in all 164 nobles,
184 monks and nuns, and 20,000 other citizens died.
The city was abandoned by all save a guard of soldiers

' Engel, § 41. ' Razzi.

» Engel, § 42. .

THE TURKISH CONQUEST 261

and the crews of two galleys remaining in the port.
The Senate held its sittings at Gravosa, and the popu-
lation only returned after twenty months.^ Shortly after
a pirate fleet of twenty-four sail appeared oflF Molonta
threatening the town. But in spite of the disorganisa-
tion caused by the plague the Government was able
to fit out a fleet of ten large ships, two galleys, one
barque, and eighteen brigan tines, under the command of
Marino Zamagna, who, with the help of two Venetian
ships, drove the pirates out of the Adriatic.

The year 1526 was a momentous one for Christen-
dom. The Turkish wars with Hungary had been going
on intermittently for many years, now one side gaining
the advantage now the other, but no decisive operations
had taken place recently. In Bosnia, the fortress of
Jajce became the centre of the fighting, and was again
and again besieged by the Turks, who were again and
again repulsed with heavy loss. Besides Jajce, the
Hungarians held a strip 6f territory south of the Save,
including the fortresses of Zvornik, Szabics, and Bcl-
grad. When Suleiman the Magnificent ascended the
throne of Othman in 1520, he determined to seize
these strongholds so as to open the way into Hun-
gary. He collected a powerful army, and led it in
person into the Banate. Szabdcs was the first to fall,
in 1521 ; Semlin, Slankamen, Mitrovid, Zvornik, TeSanj,
and Sokol were next captured, and after a long siege
Belgrad was taken by treachery. But the attack on
Jajce, which was defended by the gallant Peter Keglevid,
failed completely. A second attack on Jajce was equally

^ Razzi, ad ann., 1 526.

262 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

unsuccessful, owing to the arrival of a Croatian force
under Frangipani. In 1526 Suleiman again invaded
Hungary, and on August 29 the great battle of Mohdcs
was fought, in which the Hungarians were totally de-
feated and 20,cx^o of them, including their King, killed.
This disaster marks the end of Hungary for the time
being. The Sultan conquered all that remained of Bos-
nia, including Jajce, in 1528, as well as a large part of
Croatia and southern Hungary.

Ragusan dependence on Hungary now ceased, and
the Republic refused to recognise any claim to allegiance
on the part of either John Zapolya, who succeeded to
what remained of the kingdom, or of Ferdinand of
Austria, the German Emperor. In 1527 Ferdinand
wrote to the Senate, requesting them to remain faithful
to him as overlord of Hungary, as they had been to his
predecessors. But no attention was paid to this demand,
and the Republic remained more or less under Turkish
protection until its fall.^ But it obtained from the
Turks all the commercial privileges granted by the King
of Hungary, and its trade in the latter country flourished
under the Crescent as well as under the Cross. After
the capture of Buda some Ragusans actually farmed the
taxes of the city.*

» Dipi Rag., 441. * Engel, § 43.

CHAPTER IX

TRADE AND INTERNAL CONDITIONS DURING

THE HUNGARIAN PERIOD

IN spite of Ottoman raids, piracy, plagues, and earth-
quakes, the Republic prospered exceedingly in every
direction. According to Palladius Fuscus, there
were three hundred Ragusan merchantmen on the sea,
visiting every port. Ragusa was the starting-point for
journeys into Turkey, and the ambassadors of foreign
Powers passed through the city on their way to Con-
stantinople. Its traders were to be found in every part
of the Mediterranean. At the end of the period of,
Venetian domination, in 1358, we have seen that "mari-
neritia Rhacusii erat amissa." But after the proclama-
tion of independence it revived and increased to a far
greater degree than ever before, and to this the per-
mission granted by the Popes to trade with the Infidel
contributed not a little. In 1434 the Bull Ccsna Domini^
based on the decrees of the Council of B&le, was issued
as follows : —

" To the city of Ragusa, situated on a hard rock, on
the coast of the sea and therefore exposed to its ire, and
in a most sterile land, wholly devoted to the Church of
Rome and ever obedient to her, constantly faithful to
the King of Hungary ... is granted permission to

navigate with its ships even unto the Holy Land and to

363

264 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the ports of the Infidel, for the purpose of conveying
pilgrims thither, and of trading ; to maintain consuls, erect
churches, and establish cemeteries in those countries."
y/\ That Ragusan trade extended as far as England i s proved
by the letter of Barbarigo, the Venetian ambassador to the
Porte, who in 1 5 1 3 passed through the city on his way
to Constantinople. He wrote that in the harbour was a
ship which ^^ had come from England laden with 9000
pieces of cloth worth 85,000 ducats, besides tin and
various kinds of stuff valued at 13,000 ducats, all be-
longing to Ragusans ; and to-day, the third day, another
ship of 5000 ioui has departed laden with silks and
Zambeloti worth 100,000 ducats, besides 12,000 ducats'
worth of gropiy all belonging to Ragusans and Floren-
tines." He adds that the wealth of Ragusa was very
great and incredible.^ In 1526 Clement VII. addressed
a Brief to the Chancellor and Councillors of the Duchy
of Brittany, who had seized a Ragusan ship coming from
England laden with English goods, believing it to be
English property.* Part of the cargo was recovered,
but the loss amounted to 70,000 ducats, which caused a
number of bankruptcies at Ragusa.'

Ragusan trade with the Greeks continued down to
the fall of the last Greek despotates in the Morea.
In June 145 1, only two months before the capture of
Constantinople by the Turks, the Republic received a
Golden Bull from the Emperor Constantine Palseologus,
decreeing that the Ragusans in the capital might build
themselves a church and an official residence for the

^ Valentinelli's extracts from Sanudo, i. 297.
' Theiner, Mon. Slav. Mer,^ i. 805. ' Ragnina.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 265

consul whom they elected ; if a Greek claimed a debt of
a Ragusan he was to appeal to the latter*s consul, while
in the inverse case the Ragusan would appeal to the
local authorities ; Ragusan merchants might import and
export goods free of duty save for a 2^ per cent, tax
on the sale of imports ; there was to be no limit to the
number of Ragusans residing at Constantinople; if a
Ragusan left the city owing money to natives, none of
his compatriots might be arrested in his place. The same
year two Silver Bulls of a similar character were issued to
the Ragusans by Thomas Pi^lseologus, Despot of Achaia,
at Misithia, and by his brother Demetrius, Despot of
the Peloponnesus, at Chiarenza. The treaties were
negotiated by Volzo Bobali, who in 145 1 made a journey
through the remnants of the Greek Empire to improve
commercial relations with his own city ; but they were
merely the renewal of old-established connections, for
since the fourteenth century Ragusan traders had brought
the famed silks of Chiarenza to Ancona^ and Italy.
In the treaty with Ancona of 1372 allusion is made to
the Ragusan trade in spices, sugar, and silks from
Tartary and **Gazaria," which shows the wide extent
of the city's sea-borne trade.

At the same time, as we have seen, the Republic's
relations with the Turks and the Egyptians were by no
means unfriendly, and every opportunity was seized to
ensure a good understanding with the Court of Brusa
and afterwards of Adrianople. The Turkish trade was

* Tafel und Thomas, Kais. Wiener Akad. der Wissensch. ; Heyd,
Histoire du Commerce du Uvanty ii. 292 sqq, ; Makushevi Mon, Hist
Slav, Mer,, p. 1 1 1.

266 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

chiefly carried overland, especially after the establish-
ment of the Ottomans in Europe, and Ragusa's friendly
relations with the Slave princes gave her easy access to
the Balkan trade-routes, and therefore an advantage over
her Italian rivals. After the conquest of the Slave States
by the Turks the Ragusans were granted the fullest
privileges, although they were liable as before to attacks
from brigands and arbitrary impositions on the part of
the Pashas and Sandjakbegs. Some of their old settle-
ments in the Balkans were destroyed, but others arose in
their place. Of the older towns, only Belgrad maintained
its former importance under the new rulers. But now
Vrnbosna (Sarajevo, Bosna Serai in Turkish) arose,
founded, it is said, before the invasion by Ragusan
merchants. Instead of Novobrdo we find Novibazar
and Prokopje (Prokuplje), Skoplje (Oskiib), Sofia,
Travnik, and Mostar. In all these towns there were
wealthy Ragusan colonies, each with its church and its
consul. Some were found even at the mouths of the
Danube.^ The inland trade in Turkish times was carried
on by caravan as before, and along the same routes.
Turkish guard-houses were only two miles from the
town, but the traffic became more active in the sixteenth
century than it had ever been previously. Benedetto
Ramberti, Venetian ambassador to the Porte, gives an
interesting account of the journey from Venice to Con-
stantinople via Ragusa in his Libri Tre delle Cose dei
Turchi} He took exactly one month to go from Venice

* Jireiek, op. cii.y p. 6i.

* I have spelt the names as they are in that book, inserting the modem
spelling in brackets.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 267

to Ragusa, owing to the bora &nd the scirocco^ which
drove the ship back continually and forced her to remain
in various ports for several days at a time. From
Ragusa it took him thirty-four days to reach the
Turkish capital, by the following stages: —

February %th. — From Ragusa to Trebinje, 1 6 miles, by
**a very bad and dangerous road, over steep and pre-
cipitous mountains, which we had to ascend more on
foot than on horseback. . . . All this country formerly
belonged to the Duke Stephen Herzeg, father of the
young Herzeg who is now in Venice; it has become
quite Turkish, and is under the Sandjak of the Duchy."

February loth. — Reached Rudine, 20 miles, passing
by the castle of Cluaz (or Klobuk), then partly in ruins.
On the nth Curita (Korito) was reached, 28 miles, and
on the 1 2th he passed Cervice (Cernica) and then on to
Verba, 25 miles.

February 13M. — Priedio, 24 miles. **We passed
through a mountainous gorge, on each side of which is
a small castle, one of them in ruins, the other still in
good repair, called Vratar.^ Here Duke Stephen kept a
guard-house, where all travellers had to pay a toll. The
castles are built into the living rock ; they are reached
by a road by which only one person at a time can pass,
and could easily be defended by twenty men against a
whole army.*'

February 14M. — Orach, 28 miles, passing through
G)zza (Fo2a), " a large settlement with good houses in
the Turkish style, many shops and merchants. Here
resides the Sandjak of the Duchy, who has all Servia

^ This is the celebrated Sutjeska gorge.

268 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

under his authority. By this spot all goods going from
Ragusa to Constantinople must pass, as also those from
Constantinople to Ragusa. No horse worth over looo
aspers (20 ducats) is allowed to cross the river, but if
any traveller brings one he must either spend more in
bribes than the horse itself is worth, or sell it for what
it will fetch.''

February 1 5/A. — The first guard-house on the Kovaz
Mountain, 25 miles.

February 1 6th. — Plevlje, 34 miles, ** which is not an
unattractive place for this country. Here five years ago
a caravan of Venetian merchants of about one hundred
horses was attacked by evil persons, who killed and
wounded many, two Venetian nobles, Nani and Cappello,
being among the dead. Watch against the brigands is
kept in the following manner : one man from the village
goes through the woods beating a drum and looking out
to see if any person is lurking about, and this sound in-
forms travellers that the passage is secure. The villages
which provide these watchmen are free of taxes."

February 17/A. — Priepolje, 24 miles. "Here and at
Plevlje, which are both very large and pleasant towns
for this <:ountry, the people are all Christians ; ^ but in
the house where we lodged we found a woman with
seven children, the eldest of whom had turned Turk
(Muhamedan), and this because the Sultan Selim,
wishing to increase the number of Turks, imposed a
heavy poll-tax, called the Talotz, on all the Christians,

^ At present they are nearly all Muhamedans, having abjured
Christianity, together with most of the inhabitants of Albania and many
of those of Bosnia and other Balkan lands, during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 269

but he exempted those families who made one of their
sons a Turk. This induced many to free themselves
thus from the tax ; but the Sultan did not carry out the
whole of his promise, and maintained the Talotz on all
save those who actually turned Turks themselves."

February 18/A. — " Reached Vuatz, 32 miles, passing by
St. Sava, where there is a very large monastery of Servian
caloyers, who dress and live in the Greek fashion, but
speak Slavonic. They show to travellers the body of
St. Sava, which is still in a perfect state of preservation.
They receive more alms from the Turks and the Jews
than from the Christians.^ At the mount of the Morlak
(Molatschidi) ends the Sandjak of Servia and that of
Bosnia begins, in which is Senice.'*

February 19/A. — Novibazar, 40 miles, "a very large
and celebrated market-place, full of merchants and
shops, both Turkish and Christian, some of them
Ragusans. Close by flows a beautiful clear stream,
which enters the Morava shortly after."

February 20/A. — Ibar, 16 miles, near the " Mountain
of Silver, which should be the Mons Rhodopus."

February list. — Statoria, 25 miles, which was
reached by passing over the Mountain of Silver, * * very
high and difficult to climb, especially in winter, when it
is covered with snow. On the summit is a road, a braccio
and a half wide, by which one passes not without danger
from the precipice."

February 7.2nd. — Suatza, 25 miles. "We crossed the
broad Toplitza, which is a plateau covered with little

^ In the Balkans there are many shrines worshipped by Christians
and Turks alike, especially in Albania.

270 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

hilloclcs and surrounded by high mountains; but the
country is agreeable, and produces delicious wines and
much grain. The village of Toplitza is not only
pleasant and beautiful, but fertile and well provided
with all the necessaries of life. Here we begin to
breathe again after the long travail and danger of the
past journey.**

February 2yd. — Buovaga reached after passing
through Nissa (Ni§), "which was once a city, but is
now reduced to a fair-sized village in the Turkish
style."

February 24/A. — Clissariza, in Bulgaria, 28 miles,
which is here separated from Servia by Mount
Cunovizza.

February l^ih. — Zaribrod, 28 miles (the present
Servo-Bulgarian frontier), passing through Pirot, "for-
merly a walled castle built in the ancient style of very
large blocks of stone.'*

February 26/A. — Bellizza, 25 miles, in the fertile
plain of Sofia.

February 27/A. — Sofia,^ 15 miles. Here there are
many Ragusan merchants and Jews, but the inhabitants
are mostly Turks.

March u/, 1534. — Vacarevo, 28 miles, reached
after riding all day across a treeless plain.

March 2nd. — ^Vieterno, 28 miles.

March yrd. — Celopinci, 32 miles, after passing
Bazarcich (Tatar Bazarjik).

March ^th. — Cognuzza, after passing Philippopolis.
" We still see the remains of the walls, which are in part

^ The present capital of Bulgaria.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 271

entire and fine. There is a very long wooden bridge
across the Maritza, which flows close by, consisting of
over thirty arches. Under these many branches of the
river pass."

March 6th. — Chiudegegnibustraman (?).

March ^th. — Adrianople, 22 miles. "We crossed
the bridge of MostafFa Bassa (Mustafa Pasha) over the
Maritza. It is very fine and wide, and has twenty
arches, all of marble, with a gilded slab in the middle,
on which are inscribed in blue Turkish letters the date,
the names of the architect and the builder, and the

cost."

March %th. — Sugutli, 20 miles.

March loth. — Bergas.

March nth. — Chiorlich.

March 1 2th. — Chiumbergasti.

March 13/A. — Cocchiucchemeghi, 20 miles.

March 14/A. — Constantinople, 12 miles. "On ar-
riving here we felt as though we had issued out of
Hell, for the whole country from Ragusa until within
a few miles of Constantinople is for the most part un-
cultivated and horrible, not by nature, but by the
negligence of the inhabitants, full of terrible forests
and dangerous precipices, very unsafe on account of the
brigands, very wretched as to accommodation, so that it
is a fine thing to have been through it, but very strange
and difiicult while actually on the journey." These
words are applicable to this day to a large part of the
country traversed, and will continue to be a true descrip-
tion so long as the Turks hold sway over it.

Caterino Zen, another Venetian ambassador to Con-

272 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

stantinople, travelled through the Balkans by the Spalato
route in 1550, employing fifty-two days between Spalato
and the Turkish capital, of which three were spent at
Novibazar and six at Sofia. He adds that without
baggage the journey may be accomplished in one month,
and from Ragusa in twenty-five days, while the Vlach
runners do it in fifteen. An anonymous traveller
describes the route from Ragusa to Constantinople via
Dulcigno, San Sergio on the Boiana, Prizren, the plain
of Kossovo, Uskab, Tatarbaric, Philippopolis, and
Adrianople, which he accomplished in forty-five days.
Trade with Italy continued to develop and expand
on the same lines as before, and late in the fourteenth
century direct intercourse with Florence was established.
In 1406 the Florentine Government declared that the
Ragusans had brought so much silver to Florence (from
the Balkan mines) ^^ that we have almost purchased Pisa
with it."^ In 1429 a five years* treaty between the two
Republics was concluded, the Ragusans agreeing to bring
gold, silver, skins, wax, and other Balkan produce to
Florence in exchange for Italian wares.* Relations were
maintained owing to the frequent visits of the Florentine
ambassadors on their way to Constantinople, and many
Florentine merchants resided in the town. Apparently
the Pazzi family had property there, and after the famous
conspiracy the Florentine Government desired to confis-
cate it. In 1479 ^^ envoy was sent to Constantinople to
obtain the extradition of one of Giuliano dei Medici's
murderers ; he was instructed to stop at Ragusa on the
way to get a guide who knew Turkey " persona pratica

' Makushev, op, cii.^ 345. * Ibid,^ 440.

• • <

l.ofQskSf^

ENVIRONS OF RAGUSA.

Rozsto %\^.

%••%,

%:•. %

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 273

in Turchia."^ In 1495 wicntion is made of the appoint-
ment of a Florentine consul and magistrate at Ragusa,
while in 15 14 the Ragusan Lorenzo Ragni (Ragnina?)
held office as magistrate and Councillor of Justice in
Florence.* Various other Christian Powers made use of
Ragusa for their relations with the Turks, and even
Francis I. of France is said to have had recourse to a
member of the Gozze family in his negotiations with
the Sultan.'

Until the fifteenth century the vessels built on the
territory of the Republic were small and chiefly used for
the coastwise traflic, all foreign trade being carried on
ships purchased from other Dalmatian towns or from
Italy. Now, however, these sources of supply were
found to be inadequate, and in 1525 the Senate decided
to build a new shipping yard at Gravosa. This was
completed the following year, and was a very admirable
and elaborate establishment for the age. At the same
time the docks at Slano, Isola di Mezzo, and elsewhere,
which belonged to private persons, were enlarged and
improved. But even these measures were insufficient
for the ever-increasing business, and more ships were
purchased at Curzola and at Messina.^

The harbour and wharfing accommodation were
enlarged. Work of this kind had been partially ac-
complished in 1468 under the direction of the Florentine
architect Niccoli di Pasquale;^ further improvements

^ G. Miiller, Dacumenti salle Relassioni delle Cittd Toscane coW
Oriente^ p. 227.

' Makushev, p. 477. ^ I. von Diiringsfeld, Aus Dalmatien.

* Gclcich, / Conti di Tuhelj, 68-70.

* Ref.^ Cons. Rog,^ Oct. 23, Nov. 22, and Dec 2, 1468.

274 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

were executed by Mastro Stazio in 1473, and in the
following year dredging operations in the port were
commenced. In 1475 ^^^ quays were enlarged, and
warehouses for grain erected. The whole port was
rebuilt on a larger scale between 1484 and 1500 by
another Florentine, Pasquale di Michele. This same
architect also planned the warehouses for goods coming
from the interior. When the Republic received formal
permission to trade with the Infidel the existing fondico
was enlarged in 1432 and 1442. The discovery of the
y Cape route and the intrigues of the Veneti ans caused
a temporary stagnation of Ragusan trade, but it soon
revived, and on June 28, 15 15, the Senate decreed "de
providendo pro uno fontico spacioso in quo omnia
mercimonia possint fonticari."

Although internal industry never attained to the
importance of the Republic's foreign commerce, it was
at this time fairly active. Manufacturers and traders
together constituted (in 15 14) no less than twenty-one
guilds.^ In 1348 the merchants formed themselves into
the Guild of St. Anthony, which in the sixteenth century
became so large that those of its members who dealt
exclusively with the Eastern trade seceded from it and
formed the Guild of St. Lazarus, or " Scuola dei Mercanti
di Levante." These two guilds comprised all the richest
persons in the city, and came in time to constitute a
separate privileged caste, whose members alone had the
right to call themselves citizens, and were the inferiors
of the nobles alone. The other lay guilds were : the
Pentoriy painters, with 19 members; the Callegari^ or

^ Gelcich, RagusOy 7a

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 275

makers of leather slippers for the neighbouring Turkish
provinces, with 1 46 members ; the Pellizzai^ or furriers,
with 60 members; the Tessatori^ or weavers of cloth,
founded in 1491, after one Andrea Pantella of Florence
had introduced the industry from Italy in 141 6, and in
15 14 it had 137 members. There were in addition many
other guilds in other parts of the Republic's territory,
while a number of other industries, such as the gold-
smiths, the tanners, the shipbuilders, the dyers, &c., were
not represented by guilds at all.

Professor Gelcich quotes the opinions of a number
of foreign writers on Ragusan trade in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. The Abate Denina wrote : " The
Ragusans were ever a nation of merchants and traffickers,
and are well satisfied to do what the Neapolitans have
failed to do, monopolising the export trade of the King-
dom (of Naples), and visiting with their ships all parts
of the Mediterranean. Luca de Linda wrote : " The
Ragusans have put on the sea a number of large vessels
both for war and for traffic, and on them have travelled
as far as the New World. Among other enterprises
they served the Githolic King with many ships but a
short time since in the expedition against the Gerbi,
and with forty vessels in the conquest of Portugal."
Amalthseus in a letter to a friend advises him to settle
at Ragusa, as there were in that city many opportunities
of becoming rich by trade, for there was much active
traffic with the West, and the most industrious nations
of Europe, such as the French, the Spaniards, the
English, the Flemings, and even the Germans had
established colonies there.

276 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

The above-mentioned writer, Benedetto Ramberti,
gives a curious description of Ragusa as it appeared
to him in 1533. Being a Venetian his account is
somewhat contemptuous and not altogether flattering.
"It is well populated," he writes, "and in a beautiful
situation by the sea, on the Dalmatian mainland. It
possesses a small harbour and a very small mole. ... It
is exposed to winds and earthquakes, and is exceedingly
cold in winter. The women are not very handsome, and
dress very badly, or rather they wear clothes which suit
them ill. They have on their heads a long linen cover-
ing, which in the case of noblewomen is of white silk
and shaped like a pyramid, and thin stockings turned
down to their shins. They rarely leave the house, but
are much at the window. The young girls are never
seen. The women nearly all use the Slavonic language,
but the men speak Italian as well.^ In the city are
many fountains of excellent water brought from the
hills. About a mile from the gates is a spot called
Gravosa, which is a row of houses a mile in length,
well built and attractive, with gardens full of oranges,
lemons, citrons, and fruit-trees of various kinds, beauti-
fully adorned with fountains fed by aqueducts. . . . The
sea here forms a pleasant harbour large enough to con-
tain a hundred galleys with ease. The Ragusans are
usually rich and avaricious, like most merchant folk.
They all buy wine in retail, and timber according to
certain ordinances of their own. Friends and relations
seldom if ever dine together. They think only of

^ This is the case at Ragusa to this day. In other Dalmatian towns,
where the men are bilingual, the women often speak only Italian.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 277

making money, and they are so proud that they think
there is no other nobility than their own/ but I do not
say that of all, for I have known some who were very
urbane and courteous. And they deserve, indeed, much
praise, for being placed in a most narrow and rocky
situation they have obtained access to every commodity
by means of their own virtue and industry alone, in
despite of nature. . . . They pay tribute to the Sultan,
to whom they send orators (ambassadors) every year with ^•
12,000 ducats. The city is not very strong, especially on
the land side towards the mountains, and as it is not well
provided with walls and fosses it could be defeated.'

»»2

* This characteristic is alluded to by Pouqueville (Voyage de la
Grhe\ who wrote 250 years later (see infra^ chap. xii.).

^ This last statement is probably an instance of the wish being father
to the thought, for there is no doubt that in the sixteenth century Ragusa
was a first-class fortress, almost impregnable for those times. But
Rambuti, being a Venetian, hoped to see the city one day fall under the
power of the Lion of St. Mark.

CHAPTER X

RAGUSA INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY

( 1 526-1667)

THE period between the establishment of the Turks
in Bosnia and the fall of the Venetian Republic is
one of great interest for the whole of Dalmatia.
"In these events," writes an anonymous author in the
Annuario Dalmatico^ "every village has its part, almost
every family its glorious record. And if on the one hand
we still find the traces, I may almost say the smoking ruins,
of the desolation wrought upon us by the Turkish armies ;
on the other we find many memories of the valour of
the Dalmatians in the trophies of the families, in the
rank of nobility obtained as a reward for incredible
sacrifices, in the letters of commendation, even in certain
religious festivals, and in a large part of those customs
which time has rendered sacred to the heart of our
people, and most of us observe scrupulously, without
perhaps understanding their meaning."

At the same time Turks and Christians through
familiarity became less hostile, and did much business
together. " Once the massacre was over the Turks spent
much money, and thus after Castelnuovo had been
captured, plundered, and 4000 Christians murdered, it

^ I., 1884, pp. 131 sqq.

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 279

became a source of great wealth to the Ragusans and to
the people of Perasto. That is the reason why so many
Jews from Spain settled on the Turkish shores of the
Adriatic, especially at Castelnuovo. . . . Turkish customs (
spread among the Dalmatians, even as regards their [
clothes and their jewels and their harems. Stolivo and
the Catena (Bocche di Cattaro) were regular slave marts ;
women led a retired life like those of the East." Ragusa
was especially affected by Turkish influence, owing to
her semi-dependent position and her close intercourse
with her powerful neighbour, and this led to many
complications with Venice and other Christian States.

The first yeirs after the cessation of the Hungarian
protectorate were again disturbed by a quarrel with the
Venetians. Some of the grain ships bringing foodstuffs
to Ragusa were captured by Venetian cruisers in the
Adriatic, as the Government of the great Republic ac-
cused its small but enterprising rival of playing a double
game. The Ragusans, wishing to retaliate, thought
that they could not do better than by tampering with the
Venetian despatches. The Senate did not exactly author-
ise these proceedings, but the Archbishop Trivulzio, a
Milanese,^ who was very friendly to France and therefore
hostile to Venice and Spain, had the messenger carrying
letters to the Venetian Provveditore at Cattaro seized.
The papers, which contained the announcement of an
alliance against the Sultan, were at once forwarded to
the French ambassador at Constantinople.* The Vene-

^ The Archbishopric of Ragusa was usually conferred on an Italian
by the Pope, while the canons of the Cathedral were Ragusan nobles.
* France was at this time (1538) allied to the Turks.

28o THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

tians were furious, and threatened vengeance on the
Ragusans, in spite of the Senate's protestations that the
Archbishop had acted entirely on his own responsibility.
They were partially appeased by the arrest and punish-
ment of one Pozza, who had actually executed the
Archbishop's orders, but Venetian ships continued to
harry the Ragusan coast for some time, inflicting much
damage.^ This same year (1538) the Pope Paul III., as
head of the Christian League against the Turks, issued a
decree, probably inspired by the Venetians, hostile to the
Ragusans, forbidding all Christians to sell them arms,
gunpowder, cables, ship-timber, iron, &c., because they
were supposed to sell these articles to the Turks. He
also ordered the Republic to shake off all allegiance to
the Sultan, to cease to pay him tribute, and to join the
League against the Infidel at once, contributing five
galleys and 10,000 ducats to the common war chest.
The citizens were filled with consternation at these
peremptory commands, but the Senate sent one of its
cleverest diplomatists, Clemente Ragnina, to Rome, and
he proved equal to the emergency. Ragusa, he in-
formed His Holiness, was situated between the Turks
and the sea, and would, if she joined the League, be the
first to fall a victim to the wrath of the Infidel. Owing,
moreover, to the small extent of her territory, she was
dependent for three-quarters of the year on foreign
grain, which came mostly from the Turkish provinces ;
she could not, therefore, exist without intercourse with
her neighbours. The only result of Ragusa's joining
the alliance would be the destruction of the city, with

^ Razzi, Engel.

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 281

her churches, her convents and monasteries, and all her
precious sacred relics would fall into the hands of the
Infidel, without any advantage accruing to Christendom
thereby. The astute Ragnina hinted that the Venetians
were merely urging the Pope to take measures against
Ragusa out of jealousy. These arguments had the de-
sired effect, the Pope relenting towards the Republic and
exempting it from joining the League, to the great satis-
faction both of the Government and the citizens. There
is no doubt that their position was always a very risky
one, and it required all their diplomatic tact to save them
from ruin. They were literally between the devil and the
deep sea, but they always managed to steer a clear course
between the many dangers which beset them.

But although they were on good terms with the
Sultan, there was also danger to be apprehended from
the turbulent Pashas and Sandjakbegs of Bosnia and the
Herzegovina. Many of these men were the descendants
of the lawless native princelings who had gone over to
Islam, and still maintained their old ambition to win
their way to the seaboard. The whole country of
Dalmatia was now threatened. Clissa, Poljica, and even
Montenegro had to pay tribute to the Turks after 15 15.
In 1522 Knin, the chief Croat fortress in the country,
surrendered to the Pasha of Bosnia, and Scardona was
also occupied. Sinj, Vrlika, Nu^k, and Clissa fell in
1536, and the castles of Vrana and Nadin in 1538. The
Turkish fortress of Castelnuovo was captured by the
Venetians and Spaniards in that year, but in 1539 it
was attacked by the pirate Haireddin Barbarossa and
recaptured, the Spanish garrison being put to the sword.

282 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

It is said that some Ragusan vessels took part in the
siege, thus contributing to the success of the Turks, and
that the Republic sent presents to Barbarossa so as to
induce him to respect their territory. There now re-
mained no part of Dalmatia under a Christian Government
except the Venetian coast towns and the Ragusan State.
On the whole, the Republic found the Turks in some ways
less objectionable neighbours than the Christian Powers,
especially the Venetians. In 1538 the allied fleet under
the command of Grimani, the Venetian Patriarch, sailed
down the Adriatic and touched at the Isola di Mezzo;
a part of the squadron proceeded to Ragusavecchia, where
it was received with great honour by the citizens, but
some vessels remained at the island and sacked it, took
170 prisoners, including the Count, and did much
damage to property. The Ragusan Senate protested to
the Patriarch, who had all the prisoners liberated, the
stolen property restored, and compensation paid. A
certain number of Ragusans were detained as rowers, but
at good salaries, and thirteen Ragusan ships were pressed
into the Spanish service. The fleet then sailed south-
wards, and encountered the Turks off Prevesa ; the en-
gagement proved undecisive, but the honours of the day
remained with the Turks. It was then proposed to at-
tack Castelnuovo. The Venetian and Pontifical admirals
objected, and suggested that Ragusa should be attacked
instead, as she had shown herself so friendly to the enemy.
But Doria, the Genoese admiral, and Don Ferrante
Gonzaga refused to make war on a Christian city, and
the Castelnuovo plan was adhered to. Thirteen thou-
sand troops and 22 guns were disembarked, and an

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 283

assault delivered by land and sea. The walls were soon
battered down, and the town captured, the Sandjak-
beg escaping with 200 horse. One hundred Ragusans
fell in the attack. The Republic sent envoys to the
Christian force with provisions, and requested the leaders
not to invade Ragusan territory. This was promised,
but nevertheless a Spanish column which was raiding the
country round Castelnuovo also sacked Canali, carrying
off 17,000 head of cattle, outraging many women, "and
generally behaving worse than the Turks." The Re-
public protested against these proceedings, and Doria, with
whom it was on friendly terms, sent the engineer Mastro
Antonio Ferramolino of Bergamo to Ragusa to strengthen
the fortifications of the town. Under his supervision the
Torre Menze or Minceta, the bastion outside the walls
under the Monte Bergato to guard the harbour, and the
town gate close by were built. On the latter the follow-
ing inscription was placed :

'* Este procul sseri : nullum haec per ssecula Martem
Castra timent sancti, quse fovet aura senis."

Ferramolino remained four months at Ragusa, and
refused all payment for his services ; but the Senate pre-
sented him on his departure with a gift of plate and a fine
horse, and conveyed him to Sicily on a Ragusan galley.^

The following year Barbarossa determined to recap-
ture Castelnuovo, which was defended by 4000 picked
Spanish troops and 54 guns. A first attempt from the
land side in January failed ; but in July Barbarossa en-
tered the Bocche with 200 galleys, and after a series of

^ Razzi, lib. ii. cap. xiv.

284 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

engagements succeeded in landing an army and 84 guns.
The Ragusans sent envoys to him with presents, and, it
is said, ships and ammunition, in recognition of which he
strictly respected the Republic's territory. On August 7
an assault was delivered, and the first line of defence
broken; on the loth a second took place, and the
Governor, Don Francisco Sarmiento, surrendered with
his few survivors. According to Razzi ^ they were all
put to the sword; but Professor Stanley Lane Poole
says that the capitulation was honourably respected.
Three thousand Spaniards fell in the siege and 8000
Turks (50,000, according to Razzi).

Ragusan trade was now in a somewhat depressed
condition owing to these various disturbances. Many
Ragusan ships in the Spanish service had been lost in
the expedition to Algiers,* and the pirates under Dragut
Reis wrought much havoc among their ships elsewhere.
While the Emperor Ferdinand was invading the Hun-
garian provinces occupied by the Turks, the Ragusan
factories there suffered considerably ; and the land trade
was disturbed by the depredations of the Sandjakbeg of
the Herzegovina. In 1 544 the bankruptcies at Ragusa
amounted to 80,000 ducats.* In 1^4^ peace w as made
between the Sultan and the Ch ristian Powers, and th e
former issued severe injunctions to the Aleerine corsairs
not to molest ships flyin g th e Ragusan flag. Inthespnie-
what quieter period w hich followed there was a partial

^ Razzi, lib. ii. cap. xv.

* The Barbctry Corsairs^ p. 105.

' According to Engel (§ 45), out of 13 Ragusan vessels 7 were lost,
and at I sola di Mezzo alone there were 300 widows.

* Razzi, ii. xvii.

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 285

revi val of the city's trade, whic h now extended to America i v
by means of the favour of Spain. But in 1566 Suleiman 1
the Magnificent died, and his successor, Selim the Drunk-
ard, at once began to cast covetous eyes on Cyprus, insti-
gated, it is said, by a Jew named Nassi, who had given
him a glowing description of the Cyprian vintages.^ War
between the Turks and the Christian Powers was again
imminent, and Ragusa began to fear that she might get
into difficulties with either of the belligerents. She
therefore applied to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, with
whom she was then on excellent terms,* and he recom-
mended them to the King of Spain on the plea that
if their trade failed so would the greater part of their
income cease, and they would be unable to pay the
tribute to the Sultan. The latter would seize on this as
a pretext for occupying the city, to the great detriment
of Christendom.^ The plea was successful, and, more-
over, the same year Pius V. renewed the exemption to
trade with the Infidel, because the city " in faucis infi-
delium et loco admodum periculoso sita est."' Ragusa •
now acted once more as intermediary between Christian
and Turk, and obtained the liberation of many Venetians
and Dalmatian prisoners captured by the Turkish pirate
Ali-el-Uluj, or Occhiali as the Christians called him.* In
spite of the citizens' not altogether undeserved reputation
for double-dealing, they were also true to their better

* Horatio Brown, Venice^ p. 364.

' Lorenzo Miniati was then Tuscan consul at Ragusa, and was en-
trusted with the duty of informing his Government of all the rumours as
to the movements of the Turks which he might hear ; Makushev, op. cii,^
p. 495. • Ibid,^ 501, 1566.

* Engel, § 45.

286 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

reputation for hospitality. Their hospitality towards the
Papal admiral Marc* Antonio Colonna and the Venetian
general Sforza Pallavicini, who were shipwrecked on the
Ragusan coast in 1570, won them the gratitude of the
Pope and of Venice.^ Francesco Tron, who was pur-
sued by Turkish corsairs, took refuge in the harbour of
Gravosa, and in spite of the threats of the pirate com-
mander the Senate refused to give him up. Finally they
bought off the cousin with a sum of money, but he sacked
the monastery of Lacroma. Complaints were sent to Con-
stantinople, and the Sultan delivered up the pirate Kara-
kosia to the Ragusan Government to do what it pleased
with him ; but it was deemed best to set him at liberty
with a warning. It was justified in its clemency, for in
future none of his ships ever harmed a Ragusan. Vene-
tian intrigues again threatened the Republic*s indepen-
dence, and during the negotiations for a new Christian
League it required all the diplomatic skill and eloquence
of Francesco Gondola, the Ragusan ambassador in
Rome, to save the city from destruction. In a despatch
to the Senate, dated April i, 1570, he wrote as
follows : —

" This war gives food for reflection to the thought-
ful, especially with regard to the State of Ragusa, con-
sidering the capital malignity of the Venetians against
us; it is recorded and confirmed that at the war of
Castelnuovo in 1539 they tried to induce Andrea Doria,
general of the Emperor (Charles V.), to capture Ragusa
before aught else ; and they were so keen on this pro-
posal, that they only gave way when Doria opposed an

^ Razzi, iii. xx.

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 287

absolute refusal. He informed them that the Emperor
had expressely recommended the said Republic to him,
and enjoined him to protect it and guard it in the same
manner as the cities of his own kingdom of Naples. . . .
Upon these words the Venetians abandoned their project ;
but it is believed that our country may suffer much, and
that this war will not end without many tribulations.**
On April 8 he added : ** The Emperor*s ambassador in
Rome has been informed from Venice that the Senate
has determined to place a garrison in Ragusa, so that the
Turks may not occupy the city ; and that if the Republic
refuses to admit it, they have decided to seize it by force,
which means that they wish to capture the town with
the excuse of preventing the Turks from doing so, in
order that Christendom may not be shocked (* perche la
Christianity non strilli *).** The Spanish and Imperial
ambassadors took the side of the Ragusans, and the Pope
also favoured them, the Venetian representative alone
declaring that *' it was right that the League should not
only burn the city of Ragusa, but raze it to the ground
and destroy its people, so that their seed should not be
found anywhere.**

On June 27 he wrote as follows : —

" I have been to His Holiness, who had requested
that your Lordships should provide him not with one
ship, a3 Cardinal Rusticucci had said, but with many, so
that he may transport his troops on them. I replied that
on the previous evening Cardinal Rusticucci had spoken
to me in his name, and added that I had written to your
Lordships . . . and that you hoped that as His Holi-
ness had liberated you from so many troubles in the

288 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

past, he would take care that you are preserved, nor will
he permit that his many benefits to you be turned to
your ruin. I informed him how, after the Maltese war,
Piali had come with his fleet to Ragusa and threatened
your Lordships because some of your vessels had been with
the Spanish fleet, and swore that if a similar offence were
again committed he would come to your destruction."
The Pope was convinced by these arguments and with-
drew his demand for a Ragusan contingent, and made
the other allied Powers realise the Republic*s danger.
Venice alone remained obdurate, and continued to repeat
" ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam." She be-
lieved that the only way of saving Ragusa from all danger
on the part of the Turks was to occupy the town herself.
On June 2 8 Gondola suggested that the Senate should
send an ambassador to the King of Spain requesting
him, in memory of their ancient fidelity to his pre-
decessors, to place the Republic officially under his own
protection, because although the Pope was friendly, he
was old and in bad health, and if he were to die the
Venetians might seize the opportunity to molest the
city. This advice was followed, and in the treaty of
alliance the little Republic received the joint protection
of Christendom, a clause being inserted in it to the effect
that " no acts of hostility are to be committed against
Ragusa and its territory, the Pope for weighty reasons
having so decreed." Thus by her successful diplomacy
Ragusa was under the aegis of seven different Powers —
Spain, the Papacy, the Empire, Venice, Hungary, the
Turks, and the Barbary Deys — whence its citizens earned
the sobriquet of " Le Sette Bandiere " (the Seven Stan-

PORTS SAN LOKINZO

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 291

dards); and although subsequently they often were in
difficulties with some of their protectors, they could
always play the one off against the other. This was the
secret of their long-continued independence.

Although the Republic remained officially neutral in
the war of Lepanto, numbers of Ragusan merchants and
adventurers took advantage of it to make their own
fortunes, many of them obtaining contracts for trans-
porting troops, or hiring out their ships and crews.
During the early part of the war Ragusan shipping suf-
fered some damage, being plundered now by the Turks
and now by the Christians, in spite of the treaty of pro-
tection; and as it was even feared that the city itself
might be in danger, it was decided to strengthen the forti-
fications. An addition had been made to them in 1550-
1558, when the large Forte San Giovanni was built;
while the port was enlarged and improved with a new
pier called the Diga delle Casse, constructed under the
superintendence of Pasquale da Nola. In 1570 the
Tower of Santa Margherita was begun by Sigismondo
Hier ; ^ and soon after Saporoso Matteucci, one of Piero
Strozzi's ablest pupils, was appointed commander of the
garrison and director of fortifications. Santa Margherita
was the last building erected from the foundations;
subsequent additions were merely restorations, and the
defences of the city have remained practically unaltered
since that time.*

The following year the battle of Lepanto was fought,
in which the Turkish fleet was completely defeated.

* Min, Cons., June 5, 1570 ; Polizze Off. 5 Ragioni, Feb. 30^ 1570.

' Gelcich, pp. 84 and 87.

292 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

/ From this moment the decline of the Ottoman power
may be said to begin. It is asserted that Ragusan
galleys were found on both sides in this fight. After-
wards the city became the meeting-place for the Christian
and Turkish commanders to arrange for the exchange
of prisoners and the preliminaries of peace. Numbers
of illustrious foreigners from all countries filled the
town, and according to Appendini, sixty noble Christian
captives were exchanged for an equal number of Turkish
oflicers. But the Republic's equivocal attitude during
the war caused trouble with the Sandjakbeg of the
Herzegovina, who in 1572 made various raids into the
territory, laying waste some districts and carrying oflF
many captives. Turkish pirates landed at Meleda and
massacred all the monks, save those who took refuge in
the caves.^ At last, in 1573, a general peace was con-
cluded, much to the disgust of the Venetians, who saw
that in spite of the victory over the Turks it was not
properly followed up, and the enemy was allowed to re-
cuperate. Ragusa, however, was delighted, for the peace
removed her dangers from both quarters. But even this
spell of quiet was destined to be short-lived, and now
began a series of calamities culminating in jthe great
V earthqua ke of 1667, which brought about the gradual

i declin e of the Republic.

The Reformation had some slight efiFect at Ragusa
about this time, and during the archbishopric of Criso-
stomo Calvino (the name is a curious coincidence) some

1 The Benedictine monastery, which still exists, is built on an island
in a salt lake, or rather inlet, communicating with the open sea by a
narrow channel.

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 293

preachers were permitted to censure the loose morals of
the clergy and even advocate changes in the statutes of
the Church. But the movement was short-lived, and the
Senate had the books of the Ragusan Matteo Flacco
(born in 1520), who was suspected of heresy, burnt by
the public executioner. After the death of Crisostomo
in 1575 the Jesuits, who had made their first appearance
in 1559 as missionaries, established themselves perma-
.nently and set up a college and a church. Thus all
traces of Protestantism were stamped out. !

A new disturbance was now caused by the Uskoks,
a gang of Christian pirates. Originally these men were
refugees from the lands occupied by the Turks. Many,
as we have seen, settled at Ragusa and in other Dalmatian
towns ; but wherever they were they revenged themselves
on the usurpers by raiding their territory, plundering
their caravans, and keeping up a constant guerilla warfare
on the frontiers. Clissa became their chief stronghold,
whence they conducted operations against the Infidel ;
but when, in 1537, the Turks besieged and captured it,
the Uskoks were forced to fly once more. The Emperor
Ferdinand gave them a refuge at Segna (Zengg) in the
Quarnero, a town protected on the land side by impas-
sable mountains and forests. From Segna they continued
their raids into Turkish territory, and also began opera-
tions by sea. The place soon became a refuge for
outlaws of all nations, and the Uskoks ended by be-
coming as notorious pirates as the Narentans had been
of old. They were always a trouble to the Ragusans,
sometimes because they captured their galleys, and some-
times because by attacking the Turks they involved the

294 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Republic in difficulties with the Porte, who accused it of
protecting the freebooters because they were Christians.
In 1577 numbers of them were sdll hanging about in the
Dalmatian mountains, and made raids as far as Trebinje,
while others from Segna harried Turkish merchant-
men. They professed to regard the Ragusans as vassals
of the Sultan, and plundered their ships too ; but the
latter were able to give as hard knocks as they received,
and in one encounter killed one of the Uskok leaders.
Peace was restored through the mediation of Austria
under whose protection the Uskoks were. But the
Turks persisted in regarding the Ragusans as the accom-
plices of the pirates, and again the Sandjakbeg threatened
to lay waste their territory. On the land side the
Republic was vulnerable, while on the sea her shipping
had suffered heavily in the Spanish wars. The incident
ended in the Ragusans bribing the enemy into a more
reasonable attitude.

In 1602 the inhabitants of the island of Lagosta
revolted against Ragusan authority, because they com-
plained that their ancient liberties guaranteed to them in
the act of submission had been violated. The Ragusan
count was driven out, and the islanders raised the banner
of St. Mark and asked to be placed under Venetian
protection. This was accorded, and a Venetian garrison
landed on the island. Long negotiations ensued, and
at last Lagosta was given back to Ragusa, but on very
onerous conditions.^

In 1 617-18 Ragusa was involved in the quarrels
between Venice and Spain, which culminated in the

^ Romanin, Storia DocumenteUa di Venesia^ vol. viii., Appendix.

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 295

famous Spanish conspiracy. The Venetians had been
carrying on operations against the Uskolcs since the end
of the sixteenth century. The Provveditore Tiepolo
took and destroyed Scrissa (on the site of the modern
Gu'lopago) and hanged all the garrison. On his death
he was succeeded in the command by Bembo, who, with
a fleet of fifteen galleys and thirty long barques, manned
by Scx) soldiers, blockaded Trieste and Fiume, so as to
bring pressure to bear on the Archduke of Austria. He
also shut up 700 Uskoks in the harbour of Rogoznica.
But on a stormy night they managed to escape, and
Bembo, weary and disgusted, resigned his commission.
His successor, Giustiniani, did some damage to the
freebooters, and negotiations between Venice and Austria
were commenced with a view to putting an end to their
depredations. But nothing came of the discussions, and
the Uskoks' sack of Trebinje nearly involved Venice as
well as Ragusa in a new Turkish war. In 16 14 the
Uskoks waylaid the Venetian Cristoforo Venier on his
ship at Pago, murdered the officers and crew, and
carried Venier himself to Segna, where they cut off^ his
head and banqueted with it on the table, dipping their
bread in his blood. Austria did nothing, and the
pirates made fresh raids into Istria and the Venetian
islands. The Venetians bombarded and captured Novi,
and war broke out with Austria, which lasted until the
Peace of Madrid in 16 17. By this treaty Venice,
Austria, and Spain bound themselves to remove the
Uskoks to the interior of Croatia. A Venetian squadron
sailed down the Adriatic, and with the pretext of cap-
turing the Uskok galleys, anchored in the harbour of

296 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Gravosa, and blockaded Ragusa itself, which was de-
fended by Marino Vodopid with a small body of
Hungarian mercenaries. The Duke of Ossuna, the
Spanish Viceroy of Naples, undertook the protection of
Spain's old ally, and sent a squadron up the Adriatic
with the object of attacking Venice and co-operating in
the Bedmar conspiracy. The plot was discovered and
the fleet failed in its main object, but it succeeded in
forcing the Venetians to abandon Gravosa. This, how-
ever, caused the Turks to accuse the Ragusans of
having allied themselves with Spain to the detriment of
the Ottoman Empire. At the same time certain per-
sons whispered accusations of double-dealing against the
Ragusans in the Spanish court itself. Venice nursed a
resentment against the Ragusans for having been on
good terms with Spain at the time of the conspiracy,
and indulged in a " policy of pin-pricks *' towards the
little Republic. The latter also suffered annoyances
from the Pashas of Bosnia, who were always imposing
extortionate duties on Ragusan goods, and arresting
Ragusan merchants as they passed through the country.
These turbulent viceroys had to be pacified with presents
and heavy bribes. When in 1647 the war of Gmdia
broke out between the Venetians and the Turks, Ragusa
feared th^t she too would be involved in the conflict,
and appealed to the Pope for protection. But this time
she succeeded in maintaining a neutral attitude without
being molested, the Sultan's plan for concentrating his
troops at Ragusa for an invasion of Dalmatia having been
luckily abandoned.
V During the quieter period jifter 1631 the Ragusans

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 297

turned their attention once mp^ e to the development of
their commerce , but they discovered that the conditions
were entirely changed ifrom what they were a hundred, or
even fifty, years previously. The w hole of the Atlantic
and East Indian trade was divided between the English
anH the 0utch^ and such of the Mediterranean trade as

was not also in their hands was in those of the Venetians.
The Ragusan merchant navy had been for . t b.e . moat . part |
lost in the service of Spain or captured by j)irates^ and
a large proportion o f their seamen killed in battle or^ /
drowned . Their shipping was therefore re duced to little
more than a few coas ting vessels, a nd the Repu blic's only
resourc e was no w the land trade with Bosnia and the
Herzegovina. But that too was less brisk than it used
to be, as the general trade of the Balkans was tending |
more and m ore to follow _the Budapest, Belgrad, and 1
bofla highway to Constantinople instead of the Adriatic
routes. Decade nce wa s s etting i n throughout Dalmatia,
and the halcyon days of the Republic of Ragusa had ,
passed away. The Italian trade now consisted of little
more than the transport of grain necessary for the feed-
ing of the inhabitants, and the Italian colony was very
small. Few families from Italy, or even from other
parts of Dalmatia and the Herzegovina, came to settle at
Ragusa as heretofore. The old families were declining
in wealth and activity, while a few newer ones from the
neighbourhood monopolised the little trade that sur-
vived. On the other hand, luxury increased, public and
private festivities became more frequent and more
magnificent, so as to hide the symptoms of decadence,
and the old accumulations of wealth were gradually

298 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

squandered away. The old social distinctions, however,
were kept up with even greater strictness, and the here-
ditary nobility continued to remain absolutely separate
from all meaner mortals. The arts, too, languished,
and no more fine buildings arose. The decline of
Ragusa bears a striking similarity to that of Venice.

In 1667 a calamity befell the city which for a brief
space made the name of Ragusa ring throughout the
civilised world. As I have said, the citizens had had a
foretaste of it in the small earthquake shocks which from
time to time occurred ; the most formidable of them
had been that of 1520. But the worst was now to come.
On Wednesday, April 6, 1667, in the early morning,
when most of the inhabitants had either just risen or
were attending early Mass in the churches, " there came
from below ground a horrible and dreadful earthquake,
which in a few moments destroyed the Rector^s Palace,
the Rector himself (Ghetaldi) being killed, and all the
other palaces, churches, monasteries, and houses in the
city, everything being subverted, and there was much
loss of life ; the havoc was increased by the huge rocks
which fell from the mountains ; thus the city became a
heap of stones. At the same time, a wind having arisen,
misfortune was heaped upon misfortune, and flames
burst forth naturally from the timber fallen from the
ruins into the kitchen fires ; the fire lasted several days,
causing much suffering to the few survivors of this
horrible disaster. These are not more than 600, be-
sides 25 nobles, and it was a sad sight to see these
people, most of them injured, wandering about almost
beside themselves with despair in the ruined streets.

CABDBN NBAK KAQDSA

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 301

imploring pity and pardon from the Lord God for their
sins. Moreover, the Castle rock was seen to burst open
and close again twice, and the waters of the sea sank
back four times. Even the wells dried up completely.
The land fort remained untouched, the sea fort, the
dogana (custom house), and the lazaret were partially
damaged, but can be repaired in a short time. Many,
moved by compassion at hearing the lamentable cries of
those buried among the ruins, struggled to remove the
rubbish of stones and timber with which they were
covered, and found some still alive, although they had
been three, four, and even five days in that terrible
condition." ^

Another misfortune was added to these by the de-
predations of the neighbouring peasants and Morlachs
who came pouring into the town, and it is said that
even some of the citizens took part in the plunder,
profiting by the wild confusion. According to Professor
Gelcich, the fire was caused by incendiaries with the same
purpose.* A large part of the Cathedral treasury was
looted, and many of the sacred relics disappeared,
although some of them were subsequently recovered.
That the plundering was not more general was due to
the eflForts of two patriotic nobles, Biagio Caboga and
Michele Bosdari, who armed bodies of their own peas-
antry and retainers, and kept watch over the ruined
churches and public buildings. There was a regular
battle between a few nobles and their suites and a horde

1 Relatione delP Orribile Terretnoto seguito nella Citid di Ragusa^
&* altre della Dalmatta ^ Albania^ Venice, 1667.
' Gelcich, 97.

302 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

of freebooters for the possession of the treasury. The
latter were finally beaten ofF, and the State cofFers and
archives saved. The relics and the remains of the
Cathedral treasure were removed to a chapel in the
Dominican monastery, which was bricked up, only a
barred window being left open so that the people might
assure themselves of their existence and worship them.^
The State treasure was removed to the Leverone fort,
where the surviving nobles gathered together and con-
stituted a provisional Government of twelve Senators.
The situation appeared hopeless. " The city," wrote
the Abate Bosdari, '*was so completely buried in the
stones and rubbish of the ruined houses that every one
gave up all idea of ever making it habitable again. The
stench from the burnt or decaying corpses was so over-
powering that it caused many people to suffer from
nausea ; and no one dared venture to the spot where he
had lost his property, his relatives, and almost his own
life, especially as other slight earthquake shocks were felt
from time to time. Wherefore many of the most influ-
ential personages declared it to be necessary to change
the site of the town, and they proposed that of Lapad as
being the most convenient. This opinion was supported
by the attractiveness of the position, its proximity to a
harbour capable of sheltering many fleets, and the pure
and more open air, and it would obviate the necessity of
spending large sums in removing the rubbish." *

Ragusa was not alone in her calamity ; many places in
the immediate neighbourhood had sufl^ered considerably.

* A*<7^., 1667, June 23, and Dvu, 171 1, f. 58, dd. Feb. 3.

' Quoted by Gelcich, 98.

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 303

The houses and churches of the Isola di Mezzo were all
in ruins, as may be seen to this day, and many of the
inhabitants were killed.^ Stagno too was much damaged,
and in the rest of Dalmatia the earthquake was equally
severe. At Cattaro, according to Professor Gelcich, the
ruin was even more widespread than at Ragusa itself.

In the meanwhile th ^ news of this disaster had spread
all over Europe, and help began to a rrive frqm^ various
quarters. The Empire, F rance, Spain, and several of
the Italian States sent contrib utions in mpnty^ building
materials, and men to help clear away the ruins. Th^
Pope was the first in the field, and sent a body of troops
to maintain order, and Giulio Cerruti, the engineer of
Castel Sant* Angelo. The latter was sent to report on
the advisability of transferring the population and the
scat of the Government to Gravosa, but although he de-
clared that that spot was very suitable, the majority of the
survivors were still too much attached to their old home,
ruined as it was, to desire to settle elsewhere. The pro-
posal was dropped, and in fact, when the citizens came to
take stock of the situation, they found that things were not
quite so hopeless as they had at first appeared. Some five
thousand people had been killed, but there must have been
more survivors than the 625 mentioned by the anonymous
author of the Relatione^ if we accept Razzi's estimate. of
the population at 30,000 in 1578. It may have decreased
to some extent during the ensuing ninety years, but even

1 /^r?

■ • y.

^ The population of the island before the earthquake is said to have
been 14,000, but this is probably an exaggerated estimate. It now barely
supports 500.

» Gelcich, 98.

304 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

in 1667 it must have been much more than 5600.^ The
damage done to the buildings was less than might have
been expected. It is true that the Venetian Provveditore
of Cattaro, who happened to be at Gravosa at the time,
wrote that "with the exception of the public granary,
the dogana, the fortifications, and the lazarets, all the
buildings, both public and private, including the Palace,
the churches, and the monasteries, were ruined and
destroyed** ; while Vitale Andriasci stated that "nothing
of the city remained standing but the fortresses and the
circuit of the walls, which were injured in many places,
and a few dismantled houses/* But these writers were
probably excited by the awful spectacle and fell into exag-
geration. The Duomo was so greatly damaged that it was
necessary to rebuild it from the foundations. The upper
story of the Rcctor*s Palace was severely, but not hope-
lessly, injured. The church of San Biagio suffered con-
siderably, but survived until destroyed by fire forty years
later. The Dominican and Franciscan monasteries, in-
cluding their towers, remained almost intact ; while the
Sponza, the clock-tower, the churches of St. Nicholas,
the Ascension, St. Luke, the Saviour, the Annunciation,
the granaries, the lazarets, &c., were in no worse condition.
Of the private dwellings, those in the Stradone all fell
down, and were rebuilt later ; but many of those on the
slopes of the Monte Sergio survived, as is proved by the

^ Among the killed was George Crook, the Dutch ambassador to the
Porte, and his family and four servants, who had arrived at Ragusa four
days before the earthquake on their way to Constantinople ; the rest of
his suite, including Jakob Vandam, Dutch consul at Smyrna, were saved.
Vandam wrote an account of this calamity in his Old and New State of
Dalmatia,

INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY 305

numbers of fragments of Venetian Gothic which may be
seen to this day. The general aspect of Ragusa is thus
fortunately still what it was before the calamity.

The work of rebuilding the city on its ancient site
was at once commenced, and the damages repaired.
The Republic survived the earthquake for nearly 150
years more, and although it was not the Ragusa of the
sixteenth century, it enjoyed intervals of revived pros-
perity, and even of political importance, from time to
time. But the days for city-republics were gone for
ever, and the esdstence of Ragusa during the eighteenth
century can only be regarded as a relic of the past.

CHAPTER XI

RAGUSAN SHIPS AND SEAMEN IN THE

SERVICE OF SPAIN

THE great Spanish Empire of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries ofFered a wide field of
maritime activity to the more enterprising
spirits of Ragusa, of which they were not slow to avail
themselves. The Dalmatians of other towns were under
Venetian rule, and therefore precluded to a great extent
from these expeditions; but the Ragusans, although
their Government from time to time issued decrees
forbidding them to serve under foreign flags, so as to
avoid international complications, continued to do so,
the prohibition being more honoured in the breach than
in the observance. Throughout the seventeenth century
we find Ragusan ships, manned by Ragusan officers and
crews, taking part in all the Spanish naval expeditions.
These active adventurers, whether serving in the war fleets
of Spain or on board its merchant ships, usually succeeded
in accumulating large fortunes; some of them came
back to Ragusa to enjoy them, while others remained in
Spain and rose to high positions at the court of His
Catholic Majesty. But even these did not forget the
land of their fathers, and utilised their influence in the
Spanish king's councils for its advantage, by obtaining
favourable commercial treaties and valuable protection,

306

RAGUSAN SHIPS AND SEAMEN 307

which stood it in good stead in times of danger. On
the other hand, the heavy loss es endured _in the many
unsuccessful enter prises of Spain were a severe drain on

Ragusa's reaourq^s, and ended \)y ruining he^ Qommerce, ..

There were a whole series of merchant-adventurers,
whose wandering, seafaring lives form a picturesque
chapter in the history of Ragusa. One of the most
remarkable of them was Michele Prazzatto, a native of
the Isola di Mezzo. Like most of his fellow-islanders,
he devoted himself at an early age to commerce ; but his
first two ventures failed, and his ships foundered. He
was thinking of giving up trade in desjMiir, " but a lizard
that he saw trying to climb up a wall taught him the
lesson of Robert Bruce's spider. Like the lizard, having
failed twice, he succeeded in a third venture, and rose
rapidly to wealth.**^ He served Charles V. with his
galleys, and brought large cargoes of grain to Spain in
a time of famine. The Emperor appreciated his services, \
and treated him with friendly familiarity. According to
a local tradition, on one occasion Prazzatto was assisting
at Charles's toilet, and on being asked what reward he
wanted for his services, replied : " I am rich enough not
to desire wealth ; I am king on board my own carracks,
and have no need for honours ; I am a citizen of Ragusa,
and desire no titles ; but, as a memento of your favour,
you may give me this shaving towel." The request was
granted, and the towel is religiously preserved to this
day in the parish priest's house at Isola di Mezzo. At
his death Prazzatto left his whole fortune, amounting
to 200,000 ducats, to the Republic, which rewarded

^ T. G. Jackson, Dalmatian vol. ii. pp. 387-88.

3o8 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

his munificence by placing his statue in the courtyard of
the Rector*s Palace — the only public monument ever
erected to a citizen of Ragusa. The fame of Charles V.
and of his exploits, owing to the part which Ragusa took
in them, are a living memory to this day.

Another distinguished family of Ragusan mariners
was that of Ivelja Ohmudevic, Count of Tuhelj. The
Ohmuteviifi were among the earliest exiles from the
Herzegovina, who took refuge at Ragusa at the time of
the Turkish conquest, and were granted lands at Slano.
They at once began to devote themselves to maritime
affairs, and in 1540 and 1541 the Republic hired their
ships to transport grain from Italy. Their house at
Slano was a miniature court, and fitted up with every
luxury and elegance. It was a haven of refuge, where
hospitality was dispensed to all sailors or voyagers who
entered Slano harbour to escape from the tempest or
from the pirates. Thus the Greek prince Alexius Com-
nenus, after having been defeated by the corsair Kara-
kosha, put in at Slano and repaired his ships in Ivelja's
docks in 1569. He eventually settled there, and married
into the Count's family. Ivelja's sons all entered the
Spanish service, in which they greatly distinguished them-
selves. The most famous of them was Don Pietro
d'lvelja OhmuCcviif-Grgurid, who took part in the ex-
pedition to Portugal in 1 5 80, where it is said that forty
Ragusan vessels were lost, and in 1582 he commanded
some Ragusan ships in the expedition to the Azores,
under the Marquis de Santa Cruz. Later he raised a
force against the pirate Passareto, who was eventually
killed. He fitted out a fleet of twelve ships, known as the

RAGUSAN SHIPS AND SEAMEN 309

" Twelve Apostles," for the service of Spain, manned
by 3200 Ragusans and other Dalmatians, at a cost of
1 90,000 ducats.^ This squadron took part in an expe-
dition to the Indies and in the Invincible Armada. One
of the ships, the Annunciation^ was commanded by Count
Peter's brother-in-law, the Almirante Don Estevan de
Olisti-Tasov^id, " a very brave youth, of high spirits and
beautiful manners,"* who behaved with conspicuous
gallantry in the Armada. *' Finding himself separated
from the body of the Spanish fleet, he was bombarded by
the enemies' batteries, and escaped out of the range of
their fire with difliculty, and in such a terrible plight
that he was in danger of foundering, and unable to
repair the damages. The Duke of Medina-Sidonia,
grasping the situation, at once sent two pataches ' to the
rescue, so as to save at least the crew. Don Estevan
made for the Irish coast near Limerick, and succeeded in
transferring his men from the doomed galleon to the
pataches under a heavy fire. He then burnt his ship, to
prevent her falling into the hands of the English, and
sailed away to Santander, which he reached without the
loss of a single man.* Afterwards he joined Count Peter
at Cape Finisterre with a new galleon, which he had fitted
out at his own expense, so as to complete the " Twelve
Apostles." When Count Peter died he left the fleet as
an inheritance to the King of Spain. But the vessels
foundered soon after, and Don Estevan was sent to

' It consisted of five galleons and seven carracks, with a total burden
of 7200 carra,

* Fra Benedetto Orsini (Miniati), quoted in Gelcich's / Conti de
Tuhelj^ p. 87.

' Small barques. * Gelcich, ilnd.

3IO THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Terceira with another squadron. This, too, came to a
similar end, and sank with all hands in a sudden Atlantic
storm.

Count Peter's other son, Don Jorge d'Olisti-Tasov-
^i<5, served under Francisco de Mendoza in various
expeditions to Tunis and elsewhere. With his brother
Estevan he provisioned Naples during the famine of
1592-94 — a risky operation owing to the perpetual raids
of the pirates. After various encounters with the latter
he fell in with a fleet of them of a hundred sail, com-
manded by one Cicola, in the Straits of Messina during a
calm. After a very severe engagement, overwhelmed by
numbers, he was forced to surrender, and sent as a pris-
oner to Constantinople, losing his three galleons, valued
at 80,000 ducats, and their cargo valued at 20,000.
He remained in captivity for three years, until he
managed to raise the 3000 scudi required as his ransom,
and returned to Spain a ruined man. But the King gave
him a new command, and a pension of 40 scudi a month.
He served with distinction with the Levant fleet on the
coasts of Anatolia and of Albania in 1605-6, and later
with the Western fleet. He died, loaded with honours,
in 1625.

Another member of this family, Don Juan d'Olisti-
Dini^i<5-Tasov^i(^, was equally conspicuous, and fought
under Stephen and George, and then under Don Luiz
Faxardo in the attack on the coast of the Sea of
Marmara (1614). He subsequently commanded twenty-
six galleys in Catalonia, fought with the corsairs, and
was appointed Captain-General of the Neapolitan Vice-
regal fleet in 1639.

RAGUSAN SHIPS AND SEAMEN 311

With the death of Count Peter in 1599 the male
line of the Counts of Tuhelj became extinct, but some
years previously he had arranged a match between his
daughter Aurelia and Andrea Ohmutevid-Grgurid, of
the cadet branch of the family, also a captain in the
Spanish service. The marriage did not take place until
1 61 7. Andrea's brothers were all sea-dogs in the Spanish
service. One of them, Don Pedro, led a successful ex-
pedition to Brazil, and was afterwards appointed Spanish
consul at Ragusa (i 623-1 631). Don Pablo, after knock-
ing about in various parts of the world, ended his life in
retirement at the family place at Slano. Don Andrea
himself served Spain for fifty-seven years, commanding
various fleets, and was created Spanish Admiral of the
Neapolitan fleet, which position he held during the
Masaniello rebellion. In 16 14 the Tuhelj estates in
the Herzegovina, which after the Turkish conquest had
been confiscated and then restored to the family on
payment of a tribute, were once more confiscated on
account of the part which its members had played in
the Spanish wars against the Turks. Don Andrea tried
in vain to obtain redress from the Pasha of the Herze-
govina, and then appealed to the King of Hungary,
who in two rescripts of 1650 and 1654 recognised Don
Andrea's rights and those of his heirs, but there was no
hope of enforcing them until the country should again
be under the rule of a Christian Power; 224 more
years were to elapse before this consummation came
to pass !

Owing to the annoyances and prohibitions imposed
by the Venetians, all the more enterprising Ragusan

312 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

captains gradually abandoned the Adriatic, and extended
their operations to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
Another of the great seafaring families was that of the
MaSibradi. Girolamo Masibradi was the founder of its
fortunes, but his first ventures, like those of Prazzatto,
proved unsuccessful, and he was surprised and captured
by a fleet of twenty-two pirate galleys from Rhodes, and
sent as a slave to Scio. But he was soon ransomed, and
with his brothers ended by accumulating great wealth.
He was eventually appointed Captain-General of Spain,
and granted a salary of 2400 scudi a year. His brother
Nicholas was in the Spanish service for many years, and
was created Marquis and Knight of St. James of Com-
postella, and granted a large pension. Other Ragusan
families attained to eminence, such as the Martolossi,
the Bune (Bona), &c. All this brought riches to the
citizens, but, on the other hand, it denuded the city of
both ships and men. Gradually all the Ragusans who
were not in the Spanish service sold their vessels, notwith-
standing the laws forbidding these sales. The number
of new ships built at Ragusa decreased to an alarming
extent, and soon even the Spanish merchant navy began
to decline owing to English and Dutch competition.
Don Andrea, Count of Tuhelj, Admiral of Naples,
made a series of proposals with the object of reviving
the shipping and the trade of Spain and its vassal States,
especially Ragusa. In a letter to the Senate of that city,
dated March 4, 1634,^ he mentions the fact that there
had been at one time from 70 to 80 large ships of 1000
to 5000 salme flying the banner of St. Blaise, manned

^ Kagusan Archives, 1600— Ixix. 21 19, in Gelcich, Tukelj^ 104.

RAGUSAN SHIPS AND SEAMEN 313

by 5000 sailors, "employed tn traffic throughout the
Adriatic and the Mediterranean, voyaging even unto

ISOLA Dt UBZZO

Lisbon, Flanders, and England. These vessels were
well armed with artillery and ammunition, and manned
by excellent officers and crews who were ever ready to

314 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

withstand any enemy attempting to molest them. The
assurance that the ships were so good and so well armed,
and that the seamen were so brave and trustworthy, in-
duced all European merchants to employ them for the
transport of their goods. They were consequently almost
always making voyages, and the profits were so large
that not only were they kept in good repair, but new
vessels were constantly built, and the full number
was thus maintained. Ragusa increased in wealth, in
honour, and in population, for the Republic was greatly
esteemed by the princes and potentates of the world.
But in consequence of the recent truce concluded by His
Githolic Majesty with the Netherlands, Michael Waez,
Count of Mola, was able to introduce Dutch ships into
the Mediterranean and the Adriatic for the purposes of
commerce, and these vessels, not being exposed to the
attacks of the Turks, the Moors, the English, and the
other enemies of Spain, were under no necessity of de-
fending themselves. They were therefore able to sail
with small crews at small expense, and charge lower
freights. Wherefore most of Ragusan ships began
to fall into disrepair and were not renovated. . . .
The only remedy for this woeful decline is that His
Catholic Majesty, in the interests and for the mainten-
ance of this most excellent Republic and of his own
vassals, should grant to all those who build large ships
special exemptions and privileges throughout his king-
doms of Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, and that
preference should be given to those designed for the
transport of grain, salt, wool, and other similar goods.**
The Dutch now almost monopolised the carrying

RAGUSAN SHIPS AND SEAMEN 315

trade of the Mediterranean, and it became cheaper not
only to obtain northern products, but even the spices of
the East from Amsterdam, where they arrived by the
Cape route, than directly overland and distributed by
Italian or Dalmatian ships. Neither Spain nor Ragusa
paid attention to his proposals, and both allowed the
fatal decay to continue. But still the Ragusans continued
to distinguish themselves in the Spanish service, especially
the members of the Tuhelj family. One of them, Don
Antonio, when he heard of the terrible earthquake at
Ragusa, gave up his brilliant career in Spain and came to
the help of his distressed fatherland. He was subse-
quently sent as Ragusan envoy on a number of diplomatic
missions. His branch of the family finally entered the
Austrian service, and received high emoluments from
the Emperor Leopold. The reason of these favours lies
in the fact that the Tuhelj still claimed their ancestral
estates, at Castelnuovo, Risano in the Herzegovina, and
at Kastoria in Macedonia, and were therefore likely to
prove useful in the Austrian campaigns against the
Turks. Don Antonio Damiano, in fact, served for five
years in the frontier wars, and ended his military career
after a severe wound at the battle of Dervent in Bosnia
(September 5, 1688). He was then appointed Imperial
Resident at Ragusa, and devoted himself to the cause of
the emancipation of Bosnia and the Herzegovina from
the Turkish yoke. He visited those provinces repeatedly,
and when he himself could no longer travel he arranged
an elaborate system of secret information. In 1701 he
was created Knight of Justice and Commissary-General
of the Order of St. George, the object of which was to

■

316 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

redeem Christian lands from the Infidel, and he took up
his residence in Vienna to prepare his plan. But in his
old age he retired to Ragusa once more, and spent his
last days in studying the city archives, reconstructing
the history of his own family. He too tried to revive
the practice of inducing his countrymen to enter the
; Spanish service, and wished to enrol numbers of experi-

\ % enced Ragusan officers and sailors to man the navies of

Spain, saying that they were far better fighters than the

Neapolitans. " Ten Ragusans,*' he wrote, ** are worth

'. more than a hundred Lazzaroni." ^ But it was now too

f . late, and decadence had gone too far. The large number

of Ragusan vessels lost in the service of Spain discouraged
the citizens, while the population and wealth of Ragusa
was greatly reduced by the earthquake. The Republic
was now suffering from the vexatious attitude of the
Venetians and the Turks, who were conspiring together
for the destruction of the last *' Antemurale Christiani-
1" tatis " in the Balkan peninsula, and the citizens actually

I ' proposed to ask for a Spanish-Neapolitan ^' Governatore

! . delle Armi." Don Antonio's scheme having fallen

> through, he returned to his historical studies, and col-

lected a mass of more or less unreliable information,
chiefly culled from local traditions and native historians.

* Gelcich, Tuhelj\ 128.

CHAPTER XII

FROM THE EARTHQUAKE TO THE NAPOLEONIC

WARS (1667-1797)

OF all the Ragusan aristocracy, in whom the whole
power of the Republic was vested, only twenty-
five adult males survived this terrible calamity,
and not all of these were eligible for the highest offices.
They organised themselves into a provisional Govern-
ment, and after some demur decided to ennoble eleven
burgher families and receive them into their order.
They did not, however, grant them full privileges nor
admit them to all the offices, and this exclusion subse-
quently led to internal difficulties. The question of de-
population was now a serious one. According to Coleti,
600 Orthodox Christian families from the neighbouring
districts applied to the Senate for permission to settle
in Ragusa to fill up the gaps, and offered to pay 2500
ducats each to the State treasury. But even the earth-
quake had failed to make the Republic more tolerant of
schismatics, and permission was refused.^

Very slowly Ragusa rose from her ruins, and the
work of rebuilding began. Help came to the stricken
city from all parts of Christendom. The church of the
patron saint was the first edifice to be repaired, and then
the Sponza, the chief source of the Republic*s revenues.

^ Farlati-Coleti, Illyricum Sacrum^ iv. ;. Engel, § 49.

3«7

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318 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

; But it was a very different Ragusa to that which existed
before the earthquake. The merchant navy, save for
a few coasting vessels, had now disappeared, and with
it the sea-borne trade, while the land trade was also
reduced.

On September 29, 1669, after one of the most
memorable and heroic sieges in history, lasting twenty-
five years, the Venetian garrison at Candia surrendered to
f' the Turks. For this irreparable loss Venice obtained

some poor compensation in Dalmatia, viz. Clissa, Novi-
grad, and a few other towns. The Venetians tried to
improve their Dalmatian trade at the expense of Ragusa
by inducing the Porte to direct the Bosnian caravans
towards Spalato and Castelnuovo instead of to Ragusa
and Stagno. The Turks, although their power was on
the wane, had become more arrogant than ever after the
conquest of Candia. Kara Mustafa, who was Grand
Vizier, a fanatical hater of Christians, took it into his
head to make an end of Ragusa, and as a pretext blamed
the citizens for having resisted the bands of armed
marauders from the Herzegovina who had come into
the town to plunder after the earthquake, and accused
them of having sold goods to the Turks during the
late war at famine prices. As a punishment he raised
the tribute and demanded in addition 146,000 ducats,
threatening to annex the Republic in case of non-com-
pliance. The Ragusans in vain declared themselves too
poor to pay owing to the earthquake ; but Kara Mustafa
remained firm, and even supported the extortionate
demands of the Pashas of Bosnia and the Herzegovina.
The Senate assembled hurriedly and decided to send two

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 319

ambassadors to Constantinople and two envoys to Bosnia
to try to appease the brutal Turks. But the difficulty
was to find the men, for no one relished the idea of this
very dangerous mission — the Ragusans well knew the
way in which recalcitrant diplomats were treated by the
Ottoman when he lost his temper. At last four cour-
ageous nobles offered to go for their country's sake,
namely, Marino Caboga and Giorgio Bucchia for the
mission to Constantinople, and Niccol6 Bona and Marino
Gozze for Bosnia. The life of Caboga is so romantic
that it deserves some mention. He was born in 1630,
and after a youth of riot and dissipation, at the age of
twenty-five he was engaged in a law-suit with a relative,
whom he accused of having defrauded him. The trial
took place before the Senate, and the accused reproached
Caboga with his disorderly life and cast doubts on his
honour. Stung to the quick, the young man drew his
sword and murdered the slanderer. Flight to a sanctuary
saved him from capital punishment, but he was con-
demned to perpetual imprisonment. During his confine-
ment his only book was a Latin Bible, and he covered
the walls of his prison with verses expressive of the
deepest contrition. When the earthquake occurred he
escaped from prison with difficulty ; but instead of trying
to get away he devoted himself to the work of rescue,
and displayed great energy in repelling the attacks of the
Morlachs, whom he drove from the city. When some
sort of order was re-established and the Council met, he
presented himself before the Conscript Fathers. One of
them at once declared him disgraced and incapable of
sitting, but the majority decided that as a reward for

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# ■

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320 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

his great services in this time of danger he should be
forgiven ; he was thereupon readmitted to all his privi-
leges. It was this same man who now offered to risk
his life for his city once more. On their departure he
and his companions bade farewell to their friends as
though they were going to certain death.

Caboga and Bucchia reached Constantinople on
/ August 8, 1667. The former showed so much diplo-

matic skill in the negotiations that Kara Mustafa had
him and his colleague cast into prison on December 13,
in a building that served as a lazaret for plague patients.
But even then they refused to advise the Republic to
consent to the Turkish demands. When asked if he
would advise the Senate to agree to annexation by the
Porte, Caboga replied that " he was sent to serve, not
to betray his country *' ; and he succeeded in sending a
message to the Senate encouraging them to hold out to
the last regardless of his own fate, and only showing
anxiety that his children should receive a sound religious
education. The ambassadors were transferred from one
dungeon to another, and threatened with all manner of
punishments, but in vain.

Worse befell the envoys to Bosnia. When the Pasha
heard that they had not brought the money demanded
he threw them into an unhealthy dungeon, and after a
few months transferred them to Silistria at the mouth of
the Danube, where the Sultan Mohammed IV. was re-
siding, and here they were kept in still severer detention.
But they too held firm, and advised the Senate not to
give way. In 1678 Bona fell ill, and, being utterly
untended, died.

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 321

The Republic meanwhile applied to the King of
Naples for arms and troops, expecting a Turkish attack,
raised a loan for defensive purposes at Genoa,^ and
negotiated with the Emperor Leopold. Kara Mustafa,
on being informed of this action, vowed vengeance,
determined to capture the city, and only delayed
the operation until he should return from the siege
of Vienna. But fortunately his armies were defeated 1
by John Sobieski, King of Poland, and this Christian
victory saved Europe, shaking the Ottoman power to its
very foundations. The ferocious vizir was disgraced
and beheaded in consequence, and the projects against
Ragusa abandoned. Caboga, Bucchia, and Gozze were
then liberated and allowed to return home. "As he
(Caboga) approached the city every knoll, villa, and
house-top was covered with an admiring, almost adoring,
people ; every bell in Ragusa rang a merry peal, and the
Rector and Senate, in full robes, went out of the city
to give a cordial welcome to the wonderful Marino
Caboga.*' * He had indeed deserved well of his country,
for never had the Republic been in more imminent
danger, from which she was saved by this respite. ^^ v ^.,^ ,

In March 1684 a new Holy League was formed ^

between the Emperor Leopold I., the King of Poland,
the Pope, and the Venetians, in which Ragusa was forced
to join. But the danger from such a proceeding was now
less great, for the Turkish power was now broken. As
the Austrians had reconquered a large part of Hungary, .
Ragusa was considered to be under the protection of the

> Engcl, § 59.
^ A. A. Paton, Highlands and Islands of the Adriatic^ vol. ii. p. lyosqq.

*
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322 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Emperor as ruler of that country, and on August 20,
1684, a treaty to that effect was signed at Vienna by
Baron von Strattmann, representing Austria, and Raphael
Gozze, the Ragusan envoy, under the auspices of the
Marquis of Borgamenero, the Spanish ambassador, for

! » Spain still had certain rights over the Republic. The

agreement was ratified by the Senate on December i. It

^^ declared that this protection was merely a renewal of the

old Hungarian protectorate over Ragusa, " hactenus per
vim Turcicam aliquantisper interpolata," which the citi-
zens requested that they "quasi postliminio gaudere et
fieri possint." The Emperor promised to protect and
defend Ragusa, to confirm all the privileges and com-
mercial immunities which the kings of Hungary, his pre-
decessors, had granted her, in exchange for which she was
to pay him a sum of 5000 ducats per annum. This
payment, however, was only to be made if and when
the Austrian armies conquered the Herzegovina. The
Empire was successful in the war, and the Turks were
steadily driven back out of Hungary, where they now
only held a few isolated posts. Venice too displayed an
energy and achieved a success remarkable for a decaying
State. She conquered the greater part of the Morea,
captured Athens and a number of islands, and occupied
Castelnuovo and the whole of the shores of the Bocche
di Cattaro, as well as several positions in the Herzegovina.
The Morlachs in the Venetian service made raids into
Turkish territory, and did not spare that of Ragusa.
Venetian privateers threatened to destroy what remained
of the Republic's sea-borne trade, while the closing of
the land routes practically stopped all intercourse with

■ *

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 323

Turkey. The citizens applied now to their new pro-
tector, the Emperor of Austria, who at once sent
Herberstein to Ragusa as Imperial Commissary, and he
induced the Venetians to desist from their molestations.

As, however, the Austrian armies did not conquer
the Herzegovina, Ragusa never paid the tribute to the
Emperor, and as soon as there was a prospect of peace on
lines contemplating the maintenance of the status quo as
regards the hinterland, the Republic hastened to come
to an agreement with the Porte, and sent an ambassador
to Constantinople with the arrears of tribute since 1684.
After some years' fighting the Tsar Peter's capture of
Azov, the Austrian victory of Zenta, and the Venetian
successes in the Adriatic induced the Sultan to sue for
peace, and in October 1698 the delegates of the Powers,
including England and Holland, met at Carlovitz in
southern Hungary. On June 26, 1699, the treaty \
was signed. • The Porte ceded all Hungary save the
Banat of Temesvar, Transsilvania, Slavonia, and Croatia
as far as the Una, to the Emperor; Poland obtained
Podolia, the Ukraine, and Kameniek ; to Venice were
assigned the Morea, some islands, and several fortresses
in Dalmatia. An important article from the Ragusan
point of view, which was obtained by bribing the Turkish
negotiators, was that two strips of Turkish territory
should intervene between the dominions of the Republic
of St. Blaize and those of the Republic of St. Mark, viz.
the enclaves of Klek, near the Narenta*s mouth, and of
Sutorina in the Bocche di Cattaro.^ Ragusa thus became

* Article ix. and xi. of the Turco- Venetian Treaty ; see Rycauf s con-
tinuation of Knolles's Turkish History,

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324 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

tributary to the Porte once more, and deliberately pre-
ferred to be surrounded by the Turkish dominions rather
than by those of the Venetians. This result brought
about a partial revival of the land trade.

In 1 7 14 war between Venice and the Turks broke
out once more, the Sultan desiring above all to reconquer
the Morea ; he succeeded in his purpose very quickly, for
the Venetians, relying on the peace of Girlovitz, which
was to last twenty-five years (the Turks never concluded
treaties of perpetual peace), had made no adequate pre-
parations for defence. They allied themselves with the
Emperor (April 13, 17 16), and Prince Eugene led an
army into southern Hungary. The Imperialists defeated
the Turks first at Peterwardein, and then at Belgrad,
which they captured. In 17 18 the representatives of the
various Powers met at Passarovitz (Poiarovac) in Servia,
and on i8th July signed a treaty of peace, by which
the Emperor retained all his conquests, but the capture
of the Morea by the Turks was confirmed, the Venetians
thus losing their last possessions in the Levant save
the Ionian Islands. With regard to Ragusa the arrange-
ments of the peace of Carlovitz were reconfirmed, Venice
giving up the posts of Popovo, Zarina, and Subzi on the
Ragusan border.

Fbr the next few years the Republic was undisturbed
by wars and rumours of wars, but its general conditions
showed little improvement. The tribute to the Sultan
was 12,500 ducats a year, and with gifts and bribes
amounted to 16,000; but since the earthquake it had
been paid every three years instead of annually. The
Ragusans also paid blackmail to the Barbary States, and

COURTVARD OF TUB KRCTOKS FALACI

• to

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 327

a tribute at irregular intervals to Austria. Every year a
present was sent to the Pope, and twelve astori (falcons)
to the King of Naples.^ The population was now no
more than 20,000, and the value of property had so
decreased that the incomes of the archbishops and clergy
were utterly inadequate. Education was in the hands of
the Jesuits, who had established a college. But in the
rest of the territory there were no means of instruction
or religion. Archbishop Galliani, in a report to the Pro^
paganda Fide^ complains that the upper classes were
beginning to read French books and talk mockingly
about fasting, flagellation, and other practices of the
Church. When he remonstrated with them he was told
that the Index had not been proclaimed at Ragusa, and
had therefore no authority. He afterwards had it pro-
claimed from the pulpits, but the only effect was that
the Senate in a fit of zeal ordered the burning of the
Jewish Thalmud, a work which can hardly have had
many readers, nor shaken the piety of the people. But
in spite of their scepticism the Ragusans were as in-
tolerant as ever towards the members of the Orthodox \
Church. In 1724 a rich Servian, named Sava Vladi- i
Slavic^, who had a house and garden at Ragusa and many '
friends among the aristocracy, asked permission to build
a Greek chapel in his own grounds. But even this
modest request, although backed by a letter from the ;
Tsar Peter the Great, was refused.' The incident is
not without significance ; the Catholic Slaves have always

> Paul Pisani, La Dalmatie de 1797 ^ 181 5, Paris, 1893.
^ Oct. 20, 1724, in Farlati, p. 272.
» Engcl, § 53.

328 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

been particularly bitter against the Orthodox Christians,
while the letter from the Tsar is an early symptom of
the interest taken by Russia in the welfare of Orthodox
communities outside her own territory, an interest, then
as now, essentially political rather than religious. In
1743 Pope Benedict XIV. wrote to the Senate encourag-
ing them in their religious refusal to permit the building
of Greek churches and to admit Greek priests into the
town.

But another revival in the city's prosperity seemed
to be at hand. Trade, which had been apparently in
a hopeless condition, began to show signs of improving.
In 1727 Ragusan ships once more extended their voyages
beyond the limits of the Adriatic ; in that year a vessel
went to Smyrna for the first time for many years. The
wars between England, France, and Spain in 1 739-1 750,
and in 175 5- 1763, proved advantageous to Ragusan
shipping, and much of the commerce of the Mediter-
ranean passed into their hands as neutrals.

Ragusa had her last dispute with Venice in 1754,
when she complained to the Porte that the Venetians
had illegally cut down forests on Ragusan territory,
and levied exorbitant tolls on Ragusan vessels. The
Pasha of Bosnia acted as mediator, and Venice agreed
to renounce the dues, but Ragusa was to pay homage
to the Most Serene Republic by presenting a silver ewer
and twenty sequins every third year to the Capitano in
Golfo, or Admiral of the Adriatic, as compensation for
the rights of transit paid to Venice by Ragusa " da
tempi immemorabili fino al presente anno.''

During the Seven Years* War Ragusa had a diplo-

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 329

matic incident with Great Britain. The Republic was
suspected by the British Government of allowing French
ships to be fitted out in her own harbours. The Jesuit
scientist Ruggiero Boskovic^ was sent to England as
Ragusan agent to convince the authorities of the ground-
lessness of the accusation ; he succeeded in his mission,
and was well received.

In 1763 a revolution broke out at Ragusa, the first
since 1400, albeit a bloodless one, and the fourth in
the whole course of her history. It arose through the
antagonism between the old and the new nobility, the
latter created after the earthquake. The two orders did
not intermarry, and had always lived on terms of mutual
jealousy. The older nobles were called Salamanchesi,
and the newer Sorbonnesi.^ The immediate cause of the
outbreak was a romantic incident. A young Caboga, a
member of the old aristocracy, fell in love with, and
became betrothed to, a daughter of a Sorbonnese family.
The afiFair caused great scandal, and was discussed in the
Grand and Minor Councils. The Salamanchesi wished
to forbid the marriage and to expel Caboga from the
assemblies, while the newer order and many young
members of the old wished to see these absurd barriers
removed. As the former would not give way, the latter
made overtures to the people, who were beginning to
be somewhat dissatisfied with the existing Government.
An imeute broke out; the Rectors Palace was stormed
by an armed band, the old nobles were turned out,
and the ofiicials forced to relinquish their functions.

' Why they should have called themselves by the names of those two
famous universities is not clear.

330 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

But the new nobles had not the courage to take posses-
sion in violation of the established rules of centuries,
and for a time complete anarchy reigned. There were
no law courts, no provincial governors, no commanders
of the forts. The people, however, who had always
been accustomed to absolute submission to the oligarchy,
made no attempt to disturb the peace. They pursued
their usual occupations, and awaited the result of the
quarrel with equanimity, hoping that the outcome would
be a reduction of their taxes. Negotiations between the
two parties were opened, but the Salamanchesi proved
intractable ; and when the Sorbonnesi suggested Papal
intervention they threatened to bring the affair before
the Sultan and to apply for assistance to the Pasha of
Bosnia, saying that they would rather give the city over
to the Turks than resign their privileges ! At last the
new nobles declared that if their opponents did not give
way in three days they would appoint their own Rector
and the other officials. This decision ended the dispute,
and a number of the Salamanchesi went over to the new
party, which thus formed two-thirds of the Grand
Council, so that the elections could be validly held. A
compromise was arrived at : the Rector was chosen from
the old nobility, the taxes were somewhat reduced, and
the restrictions abolished.^

In 1768 war broke out between Russia and Turkey,
in consequence of the interference of the former in the
affairs of Poland and various incursions of Russian troops
across the Turkish frontier. A Russian fleet, under
Admiral OrlofF and the Englishman Elphinstone, entered

» Engcl, § 55.

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 331

the Mediterranean and sailed up the Adriatic. Finding
that a number of Ragusan ships were carrying foodstufl^
from Alexandria and other Levantine ports to Con-
stantinople, OrlofF treated these and all other Ragusan
vessels as enemies, although their captains protested that
they had been forced to ship the cargoes by the Pasha of
Alexandria. He summoned the Republic to renounce
Turkish suzerainty, and to place itself under the protec-
tion of a Christian Power. He demanded that all the
larger Ragusan ships should be sold to Russia, to whom
the State must also make a loan, and permission was to be
given for the erection of a Greek church in the town.
The admiral threatened bombardment in case of non-
compliance. The Government first thought of resisting,
and tried to place Ragusa in a state of defence. But on
examination it was discovered that of the 400 cannon in
the forts only 40 were mounted, while the ammunition
consisted of less than 2000 lbs. of powder and about
5000 cannon balls. A force of 5000 men might have
been raised, but there was no means of arming or feeding
them. The Republic then resorted to bribery, and
offered Orloff 120,000 sequins, by which the storm was
for a moment averted,^ but the Russian fleet continued
to harry Ragusan trade. The citizens, fearing further
trouble, applied to France for assistance, and this not
being forthcoming, to Austria. The Ragusan envoy at
Vienna, Francesco Giuseppe Gondola, a descendant of
the poet and the last of that name, did all in his power
to induce the Empress Maria Theresa to intervene on
behalf of Ragusa. But she was at that time on bad terms

^ Pouqueville^ Voyage de la Grlu^ vol. i. ; Engel, § 56.

332 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

with Catherine II. of Russia, and the negotiations failed
to have the desired efFect. The Senate then sent Francesco
Ragnina to St. Petersburg as envoy, but Catherine re-
fused to receive him. At last, after long negotiations,
when peace was made between Russia and Turkey in
1774, a special agreement was concluded at Leghorn
between OrlofF, who was there with his fleet, and
Ragnina, settling the differences. A clause was inserted
that a Greek church should be built, but it was not
executed.

A quarrel arose between the Republic and the King-
dom of Naples in 1782. The Neapolitan Government,
for some unknown reason, suddenly claimed to revive its
old rights over Ragusa, and demanded the privilege of
appointing a Govematore delle Armi in the town and a
Neapolitan oflicial as Resident. These requests being
refused, it tried to enforce them by placing an embargo
on the Ragusan ships in the ports of the Two Sicilies,
and seizing all Ragusan property in the kingdom. The
Ragusan Minister at Vienna, Count d*Ajala, induced
Count Kaunitz, Austrian Minister at Naples, to intercede
in the Republic's favour, *' as energetically as was con-
sistent with the good relations between the two Courts."
But the Neapolitan Government held firm for the time.
Eventually a compromise was arrived at, the embargo
was removed, the confiscated property restored, and a
Govematore delle Armi appointed on condition that he
refrained from interfering with the affairs of the
Republic. The salary paid to him was 30 soldi a day
and an old turret to live in.^

^ Pouqueville, ibid^

]

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 333

The peace was again disturbed in 1787 by a new war
between Russia and Turkey, Austria siding with the
former. This time the Republic was more circumspect,
and through the ability of d'Ajala suffered no harm
beyond a little plundering. More serious trouble arose in
1792, when war having been declared by the European
Coalition against the French Republic, the Court of Vienna
complained that Ragusan ships were carrying grain to
French ports. The Senate protested that such acts had
been done against its orders, and that it had no objection
to the punishment of Ragusan captains caught in the
act. It is the same old story — Ragusan seamen profiting
by foreign wars, while the Government casts off all
responsibility.

Before coming to the concluding chapter of the
Republic's history, I shall quote a few descriptions of
Ragusa in the eighteenth century by diflFerent travel-
lers. Pr^vot, who was French consul in 1750, gives a
curious picture of the town, showing the character of
its narrow oligarchy. " The Republic,** he writes, " i.e.
those who govern it, do not care that foreigners of
distinction, whether consuls or traders, should come to
Ragusa, because they are obliged to use a certain measure
of respect and justice towards them which they do not
show to any of their own subjects. The pride of the
nobles, who make everything give way before their
authority, is hurt at being obliged to show the least
consideration to those who are not of their own order,
lest they should lose caste in the eyes of their slaves, by
whom they wish to be regarded as the lords of creation.
Trade carried on by foreigners seems to them a trespass

334 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

on their own ventures, even when it does not actually com-
pete with them ; for they dread even potential rivalry.
Hence their system of exclusion, for they prefer to
be absolute masters of very little rather than share
a few benefits with people who are not their slaves.
Above all, they imagine that the French, being sharper
than other people, see the viciousness of their rule, the
injustice of their administration, and the absurdity of

UOSTAR IN THI KtRZEGOVINA

their pretensions ; they blush for very shame, and wish
to be isolated so as to avoid being exposed to criticism.
It is their sensitive spot. One may well be circum-
spect, but they have too much intelligence not to
know their own defects, but too much obstinacy and
pride to wish to correct them, and to suffer other
witnesses of their conduct than those who are forced
to applaud it. One may say that Ragusa is less a State
than a private house, of which both masters and servants

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 335

prefer to shut the doors to strangers so as to remain
unknown." ^

Pouqueville, who was at Ragusa in 1 805, also describes
the social conditions of the people. " The nobles had
places of honour in church, at the caf6, at the theatre,
and the noblewomen had sedan chairs adorned with their
armorial bearings, and took precedence at all meeting
places. The days on which the Rector went to church
were marked in red letters in the Ragusan calendar with
the words, * Oggi Sua Sereniti si porta al Duomo.* He
went there in a much patched red toga, preceded by a
valet carrying a red silk umbrella . . . followed by the
Senators in black threadbare gowns. Before him marched
two musicians, one with a hunting-horn and the other
with a fiddle.

" The citizens form three corporations : the cittadi-
nanza^ recruited from the commoners having a capital of
20,000 francs, who were like the Roman liberti. Their
women-folk were admitted to the theatre in a row of
boxes parallel to that of the noblewomen, whom they
eclipsed by their beauty and their attire. They had to
pay visits to the noblewomen on certain days.

" The second class was the bourgeoisie, the indus-
trious part of the population, for it included the sea
captains, men of great honesty, sailors, and agents in
foreign countries. Their wives were not received by
the nobility, and might only go to the parterre of the
theatre ; but at the promenade they shone by the ele-
gance of their figures and their wealth. The men spent
most of their lives at sea, and when they had accumu-

' Quoted by Pouqucvillc.

336 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

lated a fortune they often retired to foreign lands, as
they hsd no consideration at home.

*' The peasants were ser^, and attached to the land
and sold with it. But their master could not kill them,
and if he ill-treated them they could go to another.

"In 1805 the nobles were usually estimable men,
and among them were many Ultirauurs of great merit.
The religious Orders, who had produced Banduri, Bos-
kovi£, Zamagna, and other men of letters and science,
kept alive the sacred fire. . . . The cittadtnanza con-
tained many rich families, and the merchants owned over
3000 ships, which carried nearly all the trade of the
Mediterranean. The peasants did not complain of their
lot, and, the men being much better than the laws, the
State was flourishing. . . . The peasants were splendid
fellows, but absolutely obedient to their masters. It
was the ancient respect for a caste which, being un-
military, was peaceful and debonair. There was no
secret police, no gendarmes. In 1805 the first capital
sentence in twenty-five years was pronounced ; the city
went into mourning, and an executioner had to be sent
for from Turkey. . . . The Ragusan serfs are extremely
brave. They are in perpetual war with the Monte-
negrins, who are savage and without honour. There
was a constant blood-feud, and the book of blood was
preserved by the Senate to remind the Ragusans of their
duty. When a feud had gone on for a long time, and
too many murders had been committed on both sides, a
composition was agreed to for a small sum."

In spite of its defects, which French writers, imbued
with the ideas of the eighteenth-century philosophers

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 337

and of the Revolution, would naturally tend to ex-
aggerate,^ the Republic of Ragusa very favourably im-
pressed an Englishman, Thomas Watkins, who visited
the town in 1879. "Of the Ragusans I cannot write
too favourably, especially of the nobles and superior
order of citizens, who, generally speaking, possess all the
good qualities that virtuous example and refined educa-
tion can bestow, without those vices which prevail in
countries more open to foreign intercourse, and conse-
quently more practised in deception. They have more
learning and less ostentation than any people I know,
more politeness to each other, and less envy. Their
hospitality to strangers cannot possibly be exceeded ; in
short, their general character has in it so few defects that
I do not hesitate to pronounce them (as far as my ex-
perience of other people will permit me) the wisest, best,
and happiest of States.'** Later the author compares
the condition of the Ragusans to those of the Dalmatian
subjects of Venice, very unfavourably to the latter. " I
discovered that the wretched Government of Venice had,
by sending out their Barnabotti or famished nobility
to prey upon the inhabitants, rendered ineffectual the
benefits of nature. What a contrast between them and
the citizens of Ragusa, who live protected and exempt
from all taxes, while they can scarcely subsist upon the
rich lands they inhabit, being harassed by every species
of extortion that avarice can devise and power exe-

^ Also the fact that France had destroyed the liberties of the Republic
would tend to make Frenchmen of the time dwell on its defects, just as
they did in the case of the Venetian Republic.

^ T. Watkins, Travels through Swisserland , , , to Constantinople^
vol. ii. Letter xlii. p. 331 sqq.

338 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

cute." ' The picture is somewhat idealised, and, as we
have seen, even the Ragusans had taxes to complain of ;
but there is no doubt that they were far better off than
the Dalmatian Venetians, or, indeed, than the citizens of
most other States at that time.

During the prot racted wars_between E ngland and
France, and between Englan d and America . Ragusa n
trade revived to an unex pected extent, and the pros-
perity or the inhabitants Increased a "Hundredfold. _In
1779 there were 162 ships flying St. Blaize's banner, of
10 to 40 guns each, and 27 more lay at the wharves.
The land trade also flourished, and the old routes became
alive with caravans once more. B]f_the year 17^7 the
fleet had incre ased to 363 ships of over 15 tons, valued at
16,000,000 piastres, bringing in an income of 2,400,000
piastres to the owners, and a revenue of 152,000 piastres
to the State. The coastwis e trade employed 80 boats,
worth 400,000 piastres. The tax on oil "Brought in
27,000 piastres; the exports by sea were valued at
420,000 piastres, the imports at 1,800,000 piastres;
the exports by land at 1,500,000 piastres, the imports
at 900,000 piastres. Agriculture was very flourishing.
The population had again risen to 35,000, and their
income increased every year by 700,000 florins.

The Republic maintained an ambassador at Vienna
(Count d'Ajala), a Minister in Rome, political agents in
Paris, Naples, and Constantinople, and consuls at Venice,
Alexandria, and various other towns. At Ragusa there
was a French and an Austrian consul ; Naples and Russia
were represented by Ragusan merchants.

' T. Watkins, Travels through Sviissertand . . . to Constantinople
Letter xliii. p. 344.

CHAPTER XIII

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358

A FTER the departure of the last Venetian Count <
U\ from Ragusa in 1 35 8, although Hungarian polit-
^ ^ ical supremacy succeeded to that of Venice, the
artistic and civilising influence of the Most Serene Republic
survived, and its impress in the town is unmistakable to this
day. The pointed arches in the Venetian Gothic style, the
carved balconies, the two-light and three-light windows,
the general character of the stonework and sculpture, in
spite of certain distinctive features, bear witness to the
strength of Venetian example. Venice was the nearest
centre of civilisation to Ragusa, and the fountain-head of
art. In spite of the jealousy and suspicion which the
little Republic always felt towards its powerful neigh-
bour, many Ragusan artists received their training in '
Venice, while many Venetians came to execute work on
the public and private buildings of Ragusa. Venice
was not, however, the only city which thus influenced
Ragusa ; other Italian towns, such as Ancona, Florence,
Padua, and Naples, contributed towards her artistic de-
velopment, in which even Hungary had some small
share.

The most important and interesting building in the '
town is undoubtedly the Rector's Palace, which is to

Ragusa what the Ducal Palace is to Venice. It was com-

339

340 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

menced by architects inspired by Venetian ideas, and
completed by others devoted to Renaissance art. The
site of the existing edifice was originally occupied — in
the days when the whole town was confined to the sea-
ward ridge, and separated from the mainland by a marshy
channel where the
Stradone now runs
— by a castle as a
defence against the
Vlach settlement on
the opposite side.
When this was ab-
sorbed, and the
marshy channel
filled in, the castle
was en laired and
strengthened, and
later became the
seat of the Govern-
ment and the resi-
dence of the Count.
Beyond the fact
that it was pro-
tected by four
towers,! we know nothing about this early building.
Already, in 1272, it was spoken of as a very ancient
edifice,' and in 1349 the Council decided "quod sata
veteris palatii ubi dominus Comes habitat reaptetur
ct altius'elevetur,'" which seems to show that it had
been allowed to fall into disrepair. In 1388 it was

• Gelcichip. 43. ' Ibid. * Reform., \\., Oct. 3, 1349.

" «SCIILAPrOS " CAPITAL,

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 341

demolished, and on its site the foundations of a larger
and more commodious building were laid. The new
palace was not completed until 1420, and of this also
little is known, as fifteen years later a fire destroyed
*^the spacious palace of Ragusa, which was in ancient
times the castle, together with certain towers, and nearly
all the ammunition and arms which were kept for the
defence of the city and the armament of the galleys." ^
** Then the Ragusan Government decided that the Palace
should be rebuilt with more magnificent construction,
sparing no expense, and that the greater part of the
former castle which the fiery flame had not consumed
should be levelled with the ground, the architect being a
certain Mastro Onofrio Giordani of La Cava, in the
kingdom of Naples. The walls are made of ashlar
stone (De Diversis was a witness both of the fire and of
the reconstruction), finely wrought and very ornamentally
carved, with great vaults resting on tall and stout columns,
which were brought from Curzola.* The capitals, or
upper parts of these columns, are carved with great
pains. There are five large entire columns, but two
other half-columns, one attached to one tower, the other
to the other; on the first was carved -ffisculapius, the
restorer of medical art, at the instigation of that re-
markable poet and most learned man of letters, Niccol6
de Lazina (Larina or Laziri), a noble of Cremona. . . .
For since he knew, and had learned in his literary studies,
that w£sculapius had his origin at Epidaurus, which is

1 De Diversis, ed. Brunelli, p. 39.

^ Curzola has always been &mous for its building stone, which is
almost a marble, and acquires a rich yellow patina with age.

342 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

now called Ragusa/ he took the greatest pains and
trouble that his image should be carved on the building,
and he composed a metrical epitaph to him, which was
fixed in the wall. On a central column of the entrance
to the Palace is seen sculptured the first righteous judg-
ment of Solomon. In an angle of the principal door is
the likeness of the Rector hearing offences. At the
entrance of the Lesser Council, of which I shall have to
speak by-and-by, is a certain sculpture of Justice holding
a scroll, on which is read as follows : " Jussi summa mei
sua vos cuicumque tueri'." *

But even this second palace was destined to suffer a
similar fate. On August 8, 1462, it was destroyed by
fire and the explosion of the powder magazine. Other
buildings were also consumed or greatly damaged,
including the Palace of the Grand Council; of the
Rector's Palace the ground floor alone remained. Steps
were at once taken to repair the damage, for which
purpose the celebrated architects Michelozzo Michelozzi
of Florence and Giorgio Orsini of Sebenico were com-
missioned. Of Michelozzo, who had been a sculptor
and a pupil of Donatello, Vasari says : " In one thing he
surpassed many, and himself also, namely, that, after
Brunelleschi, he was acknowledged the most able archi-
tect of his time, the one who most conveniently ordered
and disposed the accommodation of palaces, convents,
and houses, and the one who showed most judgment in
introducing improvements." He was at Ragusa in 1463

* Ragusavecchia.

* De Diversis, as quoted by Graham Jackson, who had seen the MS.
in the Franciscan library at Ragusa, containing passages not in Brunelli.

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 343

engaged on the town walls, and in 1464 the Senate
ordered the palace to be rebuilt according to his designs
(nth February). He left Ragusa in June, and was
succeeded by Giorgio Orsini of Sebenico. The latter,
a scion of a branch of the great Roman family of that
name, which had settled in Dalmatia before coming to
Ragusa, had helped to rebuild the cathedral of Sebenico.
The style of his early work had been Gothic, but even
while at Sebenico he was half converted to Renaissance
ideas.^ When he came to Ragusa he had adopted them
completely, and his work on the Palace shows no traces
of Gothic. Thus we have parts of the building in the
Gothic style by Onofrio, and parts in that of the
Renaissance by Orsini and Michelozzo. The earth-
quake of 1667 did some damage to the upper story, but
it was soon repaired, and the general character of the
structure remains practically unaltered.

The fa9ade consists of two stories, the lower con-
sisting of a loggia of six round arches between two solid
structures, while the upper is pierced by eight two-light
Venetian Gothic windows. The two solid structures
contain windows, and originally supported square towers,
of which only the lower parts remain. The capitals of
the columns in the loggia are partly Gothic and partly
Renaissance work, while the arches which they support
are all in the latter style. Examining the capitals in
detail, we find that the elaborate half column adorned
with the figure of -ffisculapius is obviously the work
of Onofrio, and so are the other three outer capitals.
They are far bolder in design and more perfect in

^ Jackson, ii. 332, note.

344 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

execution than the three classical ones in the centre.
The ^sculapius is a very interesting piece of work. It
represents an old man seated with an open book in his
hand, a number of alembics, retorts, and other scientific
instruments by his side, and two men standing beyond,
one with a fowl in his hand. It is evidently intended to
represent an alchemist or physician giving advice. The
capital next to this one is considered by Jackson to be
the finest of all : ** The tender rigidity of the foliage,
the delicate pencilling of the fibres, and the just pro-
portioning of light and shade in this lovely piece of
sculpture can hardly be surpassed."^ The columns
themselves are all by Onofrio, and the wall belongs to
the same period, as is proved by an inscription recording
the erection of the Palace in 1435.

The three middle capitals, all the heavy abaci, and
the round arches which they support are the work of
Orsini. It is extremely probable that the original arches
of Onofrio were pointed, but that they and the middle
capitals were so injured by fire that new ones had to be
provided, and Orsini, wishing to give the building as
much of a Renaissance character as possible, built round
arches in the place of pointed ones. But to do this he
had to supply the heavy abaci which we now see in the
place of Onofrio's shallow ones, so as to make the arches
high enough to support the vaultings. It is curious
that the upper story, above the restored Renaissance
arches of the loggia, should belong to the earlier period.
According to Mr. Graham Jackson, the explanation lies
in the fact that in the restoration the old materials —

* Jackson, ii. 336.

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 345

columns and other adornments — which had fallen with-
out being hopelessly damped were used. The capitals
of the upper windows are small, but excellent in design.
Their chief molif is foliage intertwined with faces of
human beings and lions. Some of them remind us

distantly of the capitals in the Franciscan cloister,
although the latter are of course of a much earlier
date.

Within the loggia are various sculptured ornaments.
The doorway leading into the courtyard is decorated
with a little scroll of foliage round the arch, and small
half-length human figures. The ca^ntals and imposts

346 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

are admirably carved with groups of figures full of
movement. The impost to the right bears on the front
face a group of putti or angels playing various musical
instruments, quite in the style of Michelozzo, while on
the return face is a group of armed men. Of the left-
hand impost the front face is adorned with the figures of
a man and woman embracing each other, a boy standing
at their side ; and the return face, with a group of dancing
figures, one of whom is blowing a horn — a curious speci-
men of perspective. The small brackets whence the
vaulting springs are also beautifully carved with groups
of men and animals. The best of these is the one with
a shepherd boy and a dragon, both full of movement and
grace, and likewise interesting in perspective.

All this sculpture is Onofrio's work, and so is the
Porta della Cariti to the right, otherwise called the
"Porta e T Officio del Fondico." Here in times of
famine the poor received their doles of bread, sold below
cost price or on easy credit. Adjoining is the small
door leading to the hall of the Minor Council on the
mezzanine floor. To the right and left of the main
entrance are rows of carved marble benches. The ones
to the right are in double tiers, and here on grand
occasions the Rector would sit with the Minor Council,
the Archbishop, and, in later times, the Imperial Resi-
dent. The lower single-tier seats were for the Grand
Council. The whole loggia was known as " sotto i volti.'*

The courtyard beyond is a square space surrounded
by two tiers of round arches. The whole eflFect is grace-
ful, attractive, and airy. Both the loggie are vaulted,
but the arches of the upper story are twice as numerous

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 347

as those of the lower. The columns of the latter are of
plain classical design, with carved capitals and shallow
abaci, of which the foliage is so simple as to recall
Romanesque work. The arches are plain and without
mouldings. The upper arcade is formed by square piers
of masonry, alternating with twin columns, one behind
the other. This part of the building is the work of
Orsini, but on the wall behind the arcades there are
doors and windows in the pointed style of the earlier
edifice. Two open-air staircases lead from the courtyard
to the upper stories. The principal one, to the left of
the entrance, is poor in design, but the general effect is
large and stately. The smaller flight to the right leads
to the little terrace on the mezzanine floor. The latter
has low round arches, but the balustrade is adorned with
a Gothic frieze, like that of the seats, "sotto i volti."
At the head of the stairs is a sculptured capital repre-
senting the Rector administering justice (the officer here
is wearing the traditional opankas or sandals still com-
mon in Dalmatia) ; and opposite is a symbolical female
figure of Justice, the " quaedam justitiae sculptura " of
De Diversis, holding a scroll with the words, "Jussi
summa mei," and two lions. The draperies are flowing,
and not, I venture to think, at all DUreresque, as Mr.
Graham Jackson considers. The two lions' heads and
part of the scroll-work has been very clumsily restored.
This, again, is Onofrio's work. In this same loggia is a
sculptured group in a niche representing Samson breaking
a column, which is probably early quattrocento work, or
perhaps even of the end of the fourteenth century.
Here and there are other good fragments of carving.

348 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

The interior calls . for little mention, having been
completely restored and modernised. There is, how-
ever, one small room on the ground floor, with a wooden
ceiling charmingly painted with arabesque designs and
gilding, dating, I should imagine, from the sixteenth or
early seventeenth century. Below the small loggia is
the entrance to the state prisons, very gloomy dungeons
indeed, in some of which prisoners were walled up alive.
But the worst cells are those under the theatre — a strange
contrast ; they are below the level of the sea, and flooded
at high tide.

On the whole, the Rector's Palace is the most in-
teresting and beautiful building in Dalmatia, with the
exception perhaps of the Romanesque cathedral of
Trail. Its graceful design, its perfect proportions, and
its many charming details of stone work make of it a
worthy rival of many of the famous palazzi pubblici of
the Italian towns. It bears a strong analogy to the
Loggia dei Mercanti at Ancona, on which some of the
same artists were employed. The sculptures, however,
labour under one disadvantage, viz. they are carved out
of poor material. The Curzola stone, which is admirable
for building purposes, for columns, and plain adornments,
is not quite hard enough for elaborate sculpture, so that
although the designs of the artists may be admirable,
the result has sometimes a rough and unfinished appear-
ance. It would form an interesting speculation to study
what eflFect the nature of the material had on the artist.
At Ragusa one certainly longs for the accurate and finished
work of the Florentines. But nevertheless the Palace of
Ragusa is in its way a little masterpiece.

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 349

During the Renaissance period a number of new
churches and chapels were built at Ragusa, the majority
of them quite small. The most beautiful of these is the
votive church of San Salvatore, built to commemorate
the earthquake of 1520. "This shock caused much
spiritual benefit, for many people confessed their sins,
and said prayers, and gave alms. Each Sunday the
Government with all the
people went in procession
to implore the Divine
mercy, and vowed to
build a church in honour
of the Saviour, on which
it was decided to spend
1500 ducats. . . . For
the building of it Messer ~-^-
Daniele di Resti, Messer
Damiano di Menze, and
Messer Giunio di Sorgo
were appointed Prov-
veditori. These nobles
raised the cost to more

than 2500 ducats, and the building proceeded so slowly
that it was not finished for ten years." ^ It is said that
noble matrons went barefoot carrying materials for the
building, but the three noble Provveditori employed
the masons for their own private houses as well, and
this caused the delay. The facade is a simple but very
beautiful specimen of Renaissance architecture, recalling
that of the Lombardis' church of the Madonna dei Mira-

■ Anonymous account of Ragusa, quoted by Gelcich, p. 76.

350 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

coll in Venice. Both the fa9ade and the roof are built
in the same manner as those of the cathedral of Sebenico.
The interior consists of a nave and rounded apse, divided
into three bays by classic pilasters. There are some traces
of Gothic in the vaulting and narrow side windows adorned
with plain tracery. The cornice is arcaded, but each arch
contains a Renaissance shell.^ With regard to the author-
ship of the building, the acts of the Grand Council mention
architects summoned from Italy in 1520, whose names,
however, are not given, and one Paduan working at
Sebenico. The latter seems to have been Bartolommeo
da Mestre, described in the deeds of a Sebenico notary
as " protomagister fabricae Sancti Jacobi," who was in
that town between 15 17 and 1525, but absent at Ragusa
in 1520. This would explain the similar roof construc-
tion in the two churches.^

Among the other chapels, that of the Santissima
Annunziata deserves mention. The front is unadorned,
but in the tympanum of the Gothic doorway is a group
of three figures in high relief, representing St. John the
Baptist and two other saints. There is much dignity
about the figures, but the execution as usual is somewhat
rough. This chapel and the one next to it, from which
it is separated by a wall space with a rectangular sixteenth-
century doorway, are almost under the lee of the town
walls, which at this point make an abrupt outward curve,
so as to include the Dominican monastery.

Close by is the church of St. Luke, with some good
Renaissance decorations and an elaborate tympanum.
More important is the church of the Confraterniti del

^ T. G. Jackson, ii. p. 380. ^ Ibid.

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 351

Rosario, now desecrated and used as a military store-
house. The interior consists of two naves with a
colonnade of three arches, and a low, dark story above.
The capitals are of a handsome classical design with
good mouldings, but the proportions are bad, the church
being much too high for its length.

In the upper part of the town is the interesting little
chapel of the Sicurata or Trasfigurata, its fa9ade on a
tiny piazza, almost a courtyard. To reach it one passes
under an old archway with a fig-tree growing out of it.
It contains one or two curious paintings. San Niccoli
in Prijeki, at the end of the street of that name, has a
Renaissance doorway with Ionic columns and a classical
pediment, the adornments being very pure and sober;
the rosette window is of a wheel pattern common at
Ragusa. The belfry is adorned with excellent mould-
ings and a twisted stringcourse. The date 1607 over
the door refers to the restoration, the building being at
least eighty or a hundred years older, while the little
figure over the door is still more ancient.

Outside the walls, a few minutes from the Porta Pile,
is the tiny Chiesa alle Dance, on a rocky beach by the
sea, commenced in 1457 as a chapel for the cemetery of
the poor, as is attested by the following inscription : —

DIVi£ MARIi£ VIRGINI

S.C. DECRETO AD PAUPERIEM SEPUL.

EX iER. PUB. DOTIBUS

VIII IDUS. DECEMRIS. M.CCCCLVII

The west door is a handsome piece of Venetian Gothic

352 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

with mouldings and a sculptured group of the Virgin
and Child in the tympanum. To the right is another
group on a font. In the front of the church a plat-
form spreads out, where a portico must formerly have
been, as there are the bases of six large piers.

Of the lay buildings in Ragusa besides the Rector's
Palace we may mention the clock-tower in the Piazza,
and the fountain at the Porta Pile. The latter was
built by Onofrio of La Cava on the completion of his
great aqueduct, and bears the following inscription : —

p. ONOFRIO I. F. ONOSIPHORO
PARTHENOPEO EGREGIO N. I.
ARCHTITECTO
MUNICIPES.

The story of this aqueduct is rather curious. In
previous times the city was supplied with water from
cisterns, but in 1437 the Government decided to seek
for springs in the Gionchetto hills, and invited Onofrio,
who was as excellent a hydraulic engineer as he was an
architect, to construct it. The sum of 8000 ducats was
devoted to the purpose, but before its completion 1 2,000
were spent. The people began to say that the enterprise
such as Onofrio had designed it was impossible, and he
was summoned before the magistrates as an impostor.
But the evidence of the experts proved favourable to
him, and he succeeded in completing the work in the
prescribed time. Nothing remained now to be done
but to erect a fountain, and the funds were provided
by public subscription. Of this monument only the

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 353

polygonal basin and a few columns and heads remain.
The twelve bas-reliefs of the constellations were destroyed
by the earthquake, and so with one exception were the
figures of animals round the cornice. Another fountain,
also by Onofrio, is the very handsome one in the Piazza,
decorated with putti and shells.

There are a few private houses at Ragusa of archi-
tectural pretensions. Those of the Stradone were, as I
have said, destroyed by the earthquake ; but in the Pri-
jeki, a street parallel to the Stradone, on the slope of
the Monte Sergio, there are several picturesque old
palaces. This thoroughfare is very narrow, and the
houses are of great height ; many of them are adorned
with charming Venetian balconies and fragments of
sculpture. The general prospect of this dark, narrow
street, lit up here and there by patches of brilliant sun-
light, showing some vine pergola clinging on to a broad
balcony, or a many-light window in the purest Venetian
style, is most striking. One might imagine oneself in
Venice, until a side street leading up a steep hillside
tells us that we are not in the city of the lagoons. The
most remarkable of these houses is the one numbered
170, which has a fine doorway, with a rectangular en-
tablature enclosing a pointed arch. In the corners thus
formed are two centaurs, very spirited and full of move-
ment, though not quite perfect in drawing. The balcony
above, which is exceptionally wide in proportion to its
length, is supported by three carved brackets. The
beautiful little balcony with marble colonnade on the
palace numbered 316 is a veritable gem of Venetian
work. On several other houses there are similar frag-

354 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

ments, and others are to be found elsewhere in the town,
especially in the streets near the Duomo. The Stradone
itself is an attractive thoroughfare, broad, airy, and full
of sun. The houses are plain and unadorned, but the
rich yellow hue of the Curzola stone of which they are
built give them a harmonious appearance. The sliops
to this day are mostly of a very Eastern appearance, the
door and window being formed of a single round arch
partly divided by a stone counter which cuts half-way
across the opening.

A conspicuous architectural feature of the city b
its defences. The town walls form a most perfect
circuit, of a beauty and completeness rarely surpassed,
even in Italy. From whichever side we approach Ragusa,
whether from the sea or by the land gates, we are con-
fronted by an imposing mass of battlemented towers,
solid bastions, thick walls and escarpments, which con-
ceal the whole town save the steeples and one or two
churches. Few cities present such a perfect pictiu'e of a
mediaeval fortress, and few form so fair a picture — ^this
cluster of fine buildings on steep precipitous rocks rising
sheer up out of the azure sea, with the exquisite purple
hues of the Dalmatian mountains in the background,
and the bright patches of rich vegetation all around.
Rarely does one see so admirable a combination of
strength and beauty. The walls are pierced by three
gates — the Porta Pile, the Porta Ploce, and the sea gate.
At the Porta Pile there is a double circuit of walls ; the
outer gate is a round arch in a semicircular outwork, with
gun embrasures on either side. To the right the walls
extend seawards to a massive round bastion, and then up

CONFRATeKNITY OF THB ROSARV

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 357

the rocky ridge ; to the left they ascend the steep hillside
to the graceful Torre Menze or Mincfeta, On entering
this gate the road descends, making a sharp curve, passes
under a second arch, and opens out into the Stradone.
This leads straight to the Piazza, where the chief public
buildings stand. We pass under another arch below
the clock tower, and reach the Porta Ploce. This
too is approached by a winding road passing over two
bridges, one of which was formerly a drawbridge,
and under several more arches. The solid mass of the
Dominican church and monastery formed part of the
defence works. From the road between the Piazza and
the Porta Ploce the gate opens out on to the quays of
the harbour. The latter is small, and incapable of
sheltering large modern steamers, which now always put
in at the ample port of Gravosa; but it was quite sufficient
for the famous " argosies '* which visited every known sea
during the heyday of the Republic. It is protected by the
huge mass of the Forte Molo and other towers, while the
pier built by Pasquale di Michele juts out into the sea.
Large walled-up arches led to the shelters for the galleys
— " arsenatus galearum domus, in qua triremes pulchrae
et biremes resident, quibus armatis, cum opus fuerit,
utuntur Ragusini." ^

In other parts of the Republic's territory some few
buildings of architectural interest survive. At Gravosa
there are no churches of importance, but some fine
villas, of which the most remarkable is that of Count
Caboga ; in the general style of its architecture it recalls
the loggia of the Rector's Palace. It was at Gravosa

' De Diversis^ ed. Brunelli, p. 42.

358 the: republic OF RAGUSA

that the nobles of Ragusa had their vilUggiatura^ and all
about among the pleasant groves of the Lapad promon-
tory or on the banks of the Ombla rose many a stately
pleasure-house, filled with works of art and books, and
surrounded by lovely gardens. Most of them, alas !
were plundered and burnt during the French wars and
the Montenegrin invasion, and only a few now remain.
Other more modern ones have sprung up, some inhabited
by the descendants of these same noble families, others
by wealthy merchants who have acquired fortunes in
America. The villas among the hills at Giochetto and
Bergato have nearly all been destroyed.

On the I sola di Mezzo there are two castles, several
churches and monasteries, and ruins of other edifices.
The principal church is that of Santa Maria del Biscione,
on the south side of the island ; it is a fifteenth-century
building, in the Venetian Gothic style, and contains,
among other objects, an altar-piece of quaint design — ^a
group of wooden, painted figures ; according to the local
tradition they were brought by a native of Mezzo from
England, where he had bought them from Henry VIII.'s
private chapel, as that monarch, having become a Pro-
testant, was selling its effects by auction. But Professor
Gelcich gives extracts from local records, proving it to
be seventeenth-century work by one " Magister Urbanus
Georgii de Tenum Derfort Banakus fabrolignarius." •
The chancel has a good waggon ceiling of blue panels,
and some handsome stonework. The Dominican church,
also in the Italian Pointed style, is dismantled ; its cam-
panile of the fifteenth century has the "midwall shafts"

' Gelcich, p. 80.

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 359

of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries.^ In the
Franciscan monastery, of the same period (1484), there
are some beautiful Gothic choir-stalls, of which Mr.
Graham Jackson remarks that it is interesting to find
that even in this late work the leaves retain *' the crisp
Byzantine raffling, and are packed within one another
and fluted quite in the ancient manner, while the little
capitals of the elbow posts have still more thoroughly
the look of Byzantine work."* The two castles are
little more than picturesque ruins, and scattered about
the islands are the remains of some eighteen or twenty
chapels ; in the village several houses that once belonged
to families of position bear traces of carving, Venetian
balconies and windows, and coats-of-arms.

At Stagno there are some interesting fortifications of
the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. This
position was of great strategic value, as it is a narrow
isthmus connecting the long peninsula of Sabbioncello
with the mainland. A large square castle was erected
at Stagno Grande, looking southwards towards Ragusa,
another with a round tower at Stagno Piccolo, on the
north side of the isthmus, and a third at the top of the
hill between the two. Both towns were surrounded by
walls ; ' a long wall goes right across the neck of land, and
another clambers up the hill to the highest of the three
castles and down the other side to Stagno Piccolo. The
appearance of these battlemented wails, with towers at
frequent intervals, is most impressive, and they were a most
remarkable piece of work for their time. They secured

' T. G. Jackson, ii. 394. ' Ilnd.y ii. 29$.

' Those of Stagno Grande have for the most part been pulled down.

360 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Ragusa from attack, whether from the Venetians at the
mouths of the Narenta, or from the Slavonic princelings
of the hinterland, and later from the Turks. Both in
Stagno Grande and in Stagno Piccolo there are some
churches and private houses with architectural decora-
tions. The Franciscan monastery at the former place
has a cloister in the best Dalmatian style, and in a field
near the salt-pans is a small church, which may be of the
Romanesque period.

It is obvious that Ragusan architecture was strongly,
indeed prevalently, inspired by Venetian example, both
in the work which we have called Venetian Gothic and
in that of the Renaissance period. Although, as a rule,
the earlier artistic forms survived much longer in Dal-
matia than in Italy, the Dalmatians showed what Graham
Jackson calls ''a natural and almost precocious liking
for the Renaissance style.** Giorgi Orsini*s work at
Sebenico actually preceded that of Leon Battista Alberti
at Rimini by nine years. Another peculiarity of Ragusan
architecture is that the names of so few of the artists
themselves are preserved, and most of those who are re-
membered were foreigners. There were doubtless many
native artists, but Ragusan talent seems to have been
of a collective rather than an individual character, and
much of the work was probably done by master-masons,
stone-cutters, and similar craftsmen, and may have been
the outcome of the general artistic feeling of the people
rather than the conception of great masters.

In painting the Dalmatians were less conspicuous than
in architecture, and if we except the tradition that Car-
paccio was a native of Cattaro, we know of no great

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 361

painter of that country. With regard to Ragusa there
are a few specimens of native art, but hardly a record of
the life of any painter. Appendini (ii. p. 170) docs not
know of any Ragusan painter earlier than the fifteenth
century, but it is probable that some of the pictures in
the Dominican monastery, which are of an earlier date,
are by a native brush. Professor Gelcich mentions a
guild of painters in the sixteenth century with nineteen
members, all so poor that they had to be subsidised by
the State. But there is one Ragusan artist whose works
are preserved, and whose name at least is recorded. This
is Niccol6 Raguseo, or Nicolaus Ragusinus as he signs
himself. Several of his paintings may be seen in the
Dominican monastery and in the Chiesa alle Dance. In
the latter he is represented by a triptych of very con-
siderable merit, with a predella and a lunette. The
middle panel is a group of the Virgin and Child sur-
rounded by cherubs. The Madonna wears a red robe
with a cloak of rich cloth-of-gold, on which an elaborate
pattern is picked out in dark blue. This design is not
adapted to the folds, but drawn as though on a flat
surface. The Child is holding some fruit; the cherubs
have scarlet wings, and in the background is a gilt
nimbus. At the feet of the Virgin kneels the infant
St. John, in whose hands is a scroll with the words :

vox CLAMANTIS IN DESERTO DIRIGITE VIAM DNI.

On the plinth of the throne is another inscription :

M. CCCCC.XVII-MENSIS FEBRVARII

NICOLVAS-RHAGVSINVS-PINGEBAT.

362 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

In the right-hand panel is a St. Martin on horseback
cutting ofF half his cloak to give to a beggar. He is at-
tired in a green tunic, over which is a golden coat with a
design picked out in red lines ; the cloak which is being
cut is of a bright scarlet. In the left-hand panel we see
St. Gregory holding a crucifix in his hand, with a dove
on his shoulder; he is attired in pontifical robes — a
richly embroidered cope of cloth-of-gold adorned with a
red pattern, and figures of saints in niches along the
border. Above is a lunette representing the Cruci-
fixion, with the Virgin, St. Mary Magdalen, St. John,
and other figures at the foot of the Cross, and some
cherubs. The robe of the Virgin is of a rich deep blue,
those of the others red or green. In the background is
of gold. The predella is divided into three panels; in
the centre one is a St. George and the Dragon, very
spirited in composition, and quite in Carpaccio*s manner,
with a charming pale blue landscape in the background
and a glimpse of the sea. In the right-hand division
we see a saint receiving a mitre from two bishops, and
surrounded by other bishops, monks, choir-boys, &c.
To the left a pope in a golden robe is being crowned by
two cardinals ; all round is a host of cardinals, bishops,
Dominicans and Franciscans, and behind a landscape
with smaller figures. The faces are all very pale, and
somewhat northern in character, but those of the Virgin
and Child in the principal panel are of great tenderness
and feeling. In the colouring lies the chief merit of the
picture; it is indeed exceptionally rich and brilliant,
especially in the robes, which are characteristic of the
painter's work. The whole is enclosed in a handsome

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 363

carved frame, divided by pillars into compartments.
The groundwork of this frame is dark blue, with
designs picked out in gold, and adorned with arabesques
of a good Renaissance pattern.

On the high altar of this same church is another
picture, also attributed to Raguseo. It contains figures
of the Virgin and Child, St. Nicholas, St. George, St.
Blaize, and St. Francis. It is altogether inferior to the
one on the north wall, in a much worse state of preserva-
tion, and almost hidden under silver ornaments, plaques,
ex-votos, and artificial flowers.

In the Dominican church there are quite a number
of early pictures, some of them evidently the work of
Raguseo. To the right of the high altar is a large
triptych, with St. Stephen the Protomartyr in the centre,
St. James and St. Mary Magdalen to the right, St.
Nicholas and St. John the Baptist to the left. The
St. Stephen is seen absolutely full face, looking straight
out of the picture, with an expression of calmness and
benevolence. The Magdalen has also a very sweet
look, and is beautifully painted. The robes, as in the
Dance pictures, are all very rich and splendid, espe-
cially that of St. Stephen, which is of gold, with the
pattern diapered in dark lines and adorned with figures
of saints along the border.

To the left of the high altar is another triptych in the
same style : the Virgin and Child, the former with a lily
in her hand and the moon lying at her feet, surrounded
by cherubs, in the centre ; St. Paul and St. Blaize to the
right; St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine to the
left. The St. Blaize bears in his hands an interesting

364 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

model of Ragusa, in which one can make out three large
towers and several small ones. The gold background
has been restored, and is rather too garish.

In a side chapel is yet another Ragueso — a Madonna
and Child, supported by St. Julian, St. James, St.
Dominic, and St. Matthew. The drawing is bold and
strong, perhaps more so than in any of the artist's other
works, and some of the faces, especially that of the
Child, very fascinating: the robes, as usual, are magni-
ficent. That of the Virgin forms a curiously stiiF plat-
form, on which the infant Christ is standing. Below
are two little angels, one holding a lily and the
other roses. In the background is a faint suggestion
of landscape. Unfortunately, the lower part of the
picture has been barbarousl]^ mutilated to make room
for a window.

These, with the possible exception of one or two
more paintings in the Isola di Mezzo, are the only known
works of this artist. Who he was, what was his story,
where he worked, remain a mystery. From the date
on the Dance triptych we learn that he flourished at the
beginning of the sixteenth century, and it is fairly certain
that he must have studied in Italy. His style distinctly
shows traces of the influence of Crivelli*s school, and in
this, as in other arts, the Dalmatians continued to work
in the older manner long after it had been abandoned in
Italy. Professor Gelcich doubts if this painter were really
a native of Ragusa at all, arguing that if he had been he
would not have called himself Rhagusinus in his own
city. It is of course unusual (though not unheard of)
that an artist should call himself by the name of his own

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 365

town while actually living in it ; but in this case he may
have done so because the Ragusans were so used to having
their pictures painted by foreigners, that when a native of
the town actually painted them the fact was worthy of
being especially recorded. But it is mere conjecture, as
there is no mention of him or of his work in any known
document. Perhaps some day a record of his life may be
found in some forgotten MS., or obscure municipal entry,
or in the list of the pupils of some Venetian master.
Professor Eitelberger says that these pictures " bear some
resemblance to certain paintings in the Marca of Ancona ;
it is not impossible, however, that even from Apulia some
influence may have reached the Ragusan painters, but we
have too little information to enable us to express an
opinion as to the connection between the Ragusan school
and that of Italy.'* ^

Appendini says nothing about Raguseo, although
he speaks of some other native artists whose works are
nearly all lost. It will be sufficient to recall the names
of Pietro Grguricf-Ohmutevic, who painted some pictures
at Sutjeska^ and flourished about 1482; Vincenzo di
Lorenzo, who in 15 10 decorated a church and monastery
at Trebinje ; Biagio Darsa, author of a pictorial globe
and some studies of perspective ; and Francesco da Ragusa,
one of whose works is said to be in Rome, and another at
Brescia (i 600-1 620). We may also mention the hand-
some altar in the Franciscan sacristy, the work of a
painter and a sculptor, both unknown ; it is constructed
in the form of a press or cabinet, and is adorned with some
excellent gilt carving and a number of paintings, of which

^ Eitelberger von Edelberg, op. cit^ iv. 357- * In the Herzegovina.

366 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the most important is a Resurrection of Christ. Inter-
nally it is also painted, but by a later hand.

There are at Ragusa several pictures by foreign
painters, but with few exceptions they are of little merit.
The most interesting is undoubtedly the small triptych
in the cathedral by a Flemish artist, which was carried
by the Ragusan ambassadors when they went to Con-
stantinople with the tribute to the Sultan as a portable
altar. The subject is the Adoration of the Magi. In
the centre panel the Virgin is seated with the Child on
her lap : He is kneeling and extending His right hand
to the oldest of the kings, who has placed his sceptre
and gifts at the feet of the Saviour; behind Him is
another king also offering gifts, and through the arches
at the back one sees a landscape. On the left-hand wing
stands the third king, a Moor, and behind him is a group
of figures and a landscape. On the right is a bald-
headed man in a rich robe, probably the donor, with a
castle in the background. This work is undoubtedly
of the Flemish school, and, according to Eitelberger,^ is
reminiscent of Memling. " The technique,** he says,
" is extraordinarily careful, and the picture, in spite of
having been damaged by wax candles, is yet so well pre-
served that it needs only the hand of a good restorer for
it to make a great impression even on the uninitiated.
The head of the Virgin has an expression of lovingness
and purity such as is peculiar to the Flemish school alone/'
As to how it found its way to Ragusa we know nothing.
Eitelberger conjectures that it must have come from
Naples, as the Republic was in constant intercourse with

1 op, ciL^ iv. 317.

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 367

that city, which in its turn had connections with Flan-
ders, and the Neapolitan painters were greatly under the
influence of Flemish art. But it is quite possible that it
came direct from the Low Countries to Ragusa, where,
as we have seen, there was a colony of Flemish merchants.

Of the other foreign paintings at Ragusa the follow-
ing deserve notice : a head of Christ by Pordenone ; a
head of St. Catherine by Palma Vecchio ; four pictures
by Padovanino of second-rate interest ; an Assumption
of the Virgin attributed to Titian, but certainly not
genuine, though possibly by a pupil ; a spurious Andrea
del Sarto, and an equally spurious Raphael. All these
are in the Duomo. In the Dominican church is a
St. Mary Magdalen, attributed to Titian, and probably
that master^s genuine work. One or two more Titians
of very questionable authenticity may be seen at the
Isola di Mezzo and at Cannosa.

A form of art which flourished exceedingly at Ragusa
was goldsmith^swork. The goldsmiths and silversmiths of
Dalmatia were famous, and many of the church treasuries
in the country are very rich and splendid. That of the
cathedral of Ragusa is one of the finest, in spite of the
earthquake and the depredations of the freebooters after
that calamity. Its two most interesting pieces, however,
are not by natives of Ragusa. One is an enamelled
casket enclosing the skull of St. Blaize. The ground-
work of copper is concealed by twenty-four plaques of
metal, on which enamel and filigree are laid; each of
them, save four triangular plaques on the top, contains
a medallion with the head of a saint in the centre, the
name written in Lombardic letters. The surface not

368 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

covered by the plaques is filled in with the most delicate
enamels of flowers, fruit, leaves, pearls, insects, and
scroll work. This reliquary is said by Resti to have
been brought to Ragusa in 1026, but Graham Jackson
proves it to belong to two widely diflFerent periods. The
medallions are Byzantine work of the eleventh or twelfth
century, whereas the intervening scrolls of flowers, &c.,
are of a much later date, and, in fact, Jackson discovered
the inscription in a corner of the lower edge : " Fran**.
Ferro Venet°. F. A. 1694." ^

Another treasure is the curious silver-gilt basin and
ewer attributed to Giovanni Progonovi6, a jeweller of the
fifteenth century, but more probably foreign work, as the
plate mark — an N within a circle — is not thit of Ragusa.^
The ewer contains imitations of bunches of dried leaves
and grasses in silver, and the basin is strewn with ferns and
leaves, in the midst of which creep lizards, eels, snakes,
and other animals, all wrought in silver, and enamelled
and tinted so as to deceive one into believing them real.
It is an extraordinary piece of work, but more strange than
beautiful. It is probably not older than the early seven-
teenth century. There are many other specimens of the
jeweller^s art in this collection, reliquaries, chalices, cups,
&c., mostly by natives, and some of them very handsome.

The little silver statuette of St. Blaize in the church
of that saint is interesting historically as well as artisti-
cally, because the figure bears a model of the town
before the great earthquake. The head is excellent both in
expression and workmanship, and the exquisitely chased

^ For a more detailed description, see Graham Jackson, vol ii. p. 354.

* Ibid,^ ii. p. 356.

ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 369

chasuble reminds one of the robes in Raguseo*s paintings.
The original figure is, according to Graham Jackson, as
old as the church, i.e. about 1360, but it has been
restored at various times. The mitre, the crook of the
pastoral stafF, and the dalmatic have been renewed, while
the lower part of the statuette has evidently been cut
away. The model shows us the Ragusa of the four-
teenth or fifteenth century, not very different from that
of to-day, save for the Duomo and the church of San
Biagio, which have been rebuilt, and the little church of
the Three Martyrs of Cattaro in the Stradone, which
has disappeared. Many of the houses in that street
have gabled fronts and some have projecting pents to
shelter the shops. The Orlando column supports a huge
standard.

At Mezzo is preserved some church plate, of which
the most beautiful piece is a large silver-gilt chalice.
On the foot is a figure of St. Blaize in relief, and on the
lower part of the cup are the emblems of the four
Evangelists. The handles are formed by two graceful
little angels poised with one foot on the top and the
other hanging in the air, their hands clinging on to the
edge of the cup. The hall-mark — a bishop*s head — is
that of Ragusa, and the chalice is probably Mezzo work,
the island having been famous for its goldsmiths. Many
other specimens of this art exist in the various churches
of Ragusa and the neighbourhood, and some perhaps
may be found in those of other parts of Dalmatia, and
in the monasteries of Bosnia, the Herzegovina, and
Albania.

2 A

CHAPTER XIV

LITERATURE

OWING to her position between the Italian and
Slavonic elements, and her connections with
Venice and with the Serb States, Ragusan
literature was of a twofold, or indeed of a threefold,
nature. There were Ragusans who wrote in Latin,
others in Italian, and others in Slavonic. But so mixed
was the character of the people that in many instances
the same author composed works in all the three
languages. '^Dalmatia, and especially Ragusa, which
represents the highest degree of Slavonic culture, shows
at the end of the Middle Ages a peculiar and character-
istic blend of Italian and Slavonic elements, which even
to-day is a remarkable trait of this people.'* * Venetian
influence strengthened the original Latin element of the
population, and most of the nobles had Italian names,
although later these were given a Slavonic form as well.
Thus Gondola is sometimes written Gundulic, Palmota
Palmotic, Bona Bunic, &c. The collapse of Venetian
power in Dalmatia in 1358 opened the way to Slavonic
influences, for Hungary was too alien to the Dalmatians
to impress more than her political sovereignty on them.
But Latin and Italian culture was maintained by the side

^ Puipin und Spasowicz, Geschichte der Slawischen Literatur^ vol. ii.

p. 224.

370

LITERATURE 371

of that of the Slaves, and indeed the Slavonic literature
at Ragusa was wholly inspired by that of Italy.

" Under the influence of peculiar historical conditions
there arose on the Serbo-Croatian littoral an important
poetical literature, of which Ragusa was the centre, and
the pure vernacular the organ." ^ It had, however, no
connection with the old Slavonic tradition or the Servian
popular songs, but was based almost exclusively on Italian
influences, for Ragusan culture was purely of Italian
origin, and the conditions utterly unlike those of the
people of the neighbouring Slavonic States. The literary
movements and forms of Italy were all reflected at
Ragusa, and thus we find specimens of Latin ecclesiastical
literature, of the Provencal troubadours, of Renaissance
culture and the revival of learning. In the Ragusan
epic Italian influence is conspicuous, and also in the
native lyric poetry, which is chiefly inspired from
Petrarch*s Canzoni ; while the Ragusan dramas are
imitated from the mediaeval mystery plays, the pastoral
plays of Tasso, and Italian popular comedies. Even the
so-called "macaronic" verses were adopted at Ragusa,
i.e. a medley of dog-Latin and Slavonic. The outward
forms of Italian literary life were copied no less than
literary styles, and learned literary academies were estab-
lished at Ragusa, where men of culture met to discuss
their favourite topics. The city came to be known as
the "Slavonic Athens." Learned Italians were invited
to lecture at Ragusa, for the Senate maintained chairs
of Italian and Latin literature since the early fifteenth
century. The study of Greek had been to some extent

^ Puipin und Spasowicz, ibid.

372 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

kept up owing to the old Byzantine tradition, and it was
now promoted by the influx of learned Greeks who took
refuge at Ragusa after the fall of Constantinople. On
the other hand, many Ragusans went abroad, especially
to Italy, for purposes of study, and some of them
achieved considerable fame in various spheres of life,
such as Stoicus or Stoikovi^ one of the most celebrated
theologians of the fifteenth century, and Anselmo
Banduri, the archaeologist.

The Ragusan poets who wrote in Latin may be dis-
missed in a few words. The most celebrated of them
was Elio Cerva, who went to Rome in 1476 at the age
of sixteen, where he studied the humanities, and joined
the Quirinal academy. He Latinised his name according
to the fashion of the time into -flElius Lampridius Cer-
vinus, and two years later he was crowned Poet-laureate.
He soon returned to Ragusa, married, and determined to
devote his life to the public service, but on the death of
his wife he took Holy Orders, and spent most of his
time at Ombla. He died in 1520. He was much ap-
preciated by his contemporaries, especially by Sabellicus
and Palladius Fuscus. His chief compositions are an
elegy on his retreat at Ombla, another on the tomb of
Cicero's daughter, and a number of odes, epigrams, and
hymns.

Another Latin poet of some reputation was Giovanni
Gozze. He was employed by the Republic on various
embassies, in the course of which he made the acquunt-
ance of a number of statesmen and men of letters, among
others that of the celebrated Agnolo Poliziano. To the
latter he afterwards sent some of his own works, and

LITERATURE 373

Poliziano^s letter of thanks, in which he expresses ad-
miration for the poems, is published, together with his
other epistles. Giovanni Bona, who died in I534> was
the author of several poems of a religious character
Niccol6 Bratutti (i 564-1632) of Mezzo was made
Bishop of Sarsina in Italy, but was afterwards im-
prisoned, during which period he began to write
religious poems. These were published in 1630 under
the title of Martyrologium Poeticum Sanctorum Totius
Italia. The name of Stefano Gradi may also be
mentioned as the author of sundry works in Latin on
philosophy, epistles, poems, &c. He did much for
the relief of his fellow-citizens at the time of the
earthquake, and was instrumental in obtaining help
from the Pope and other foreign potentates. He died
in 1683.

Far more important is the Slavonic literature of
Ragusa, Slavonic, as I have said, only in language, but
Italian in character. The first Ragusan to write verse in
the vernacular was §isko Men^etid or Sigismondo Menze
(H5 7-' 501)1 who may be called the father of Ragusan
poetry. His compositions were chiefly love lyrics of the
Proven9al troubadour character, a form introduced into
Ragusa through the Republic's connection with the
Spanish court of Naples. His canzoniere is entitled
Pjesni Ljuvesne} Of a similar character are the poems
of Gjore Drii<5 (died 15 10), and those of Hannibal
Luci6 or Lucio (1480- 1540), author of a play called

^ This, as well as the Slavonic works of other Ragusans, is published
at Agram in the collection called Stari Pisci Htvatski (Old Croatian
writers).

374 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Robinjay or the Slave girl, of which the subject is an
episode of the Turkish wars.^ He also wrote an ode in
praise of Ragusa, of which the following is an extract :
" My songs cannot in any way tell of all the lands with
which the famous Ragusa trades. Over mountains and
through forests, all the world over, does she send her
merchants without let or hindrance, through lands where
the sun shines from afar, where it burns moderately, and
where it blazes overmuch. All receive the wares which
they peacefully bring, and what is given in exchange
they peacefully carry away. Worthy is the city that
she should everywhere be praised, that God and men
should bless her ! *'

Nikola Vetranic-CavCi6 (1482-1576) was much ad-
mired as a poet. He belonged to a noble Ragusan
family, and was abbot of a monastery, but later in life
he retired to a hermitage on a small island off the coast,
where he continued to write poetry and keep up his
intercourse with literary friends. His Sacrifice of Abror-
ham is considered one of the best of the Slavonic mystery
plays, for it contains really artistic presentations of
character and situations, while some of the episodes
begin to resemble Servian popular poetry. In a poem
called Rtmetay or the Hermit, he describes his island
retreat, and in the Putnik (the Wanderer) Ragusan
scenery. His Italija is an ode to Italy, in which he
shows that the Ragusans considered themselves almost
Italians, for he hopes that her ancient glory may return

^ In this, as in other works by Ragusans^ no animus against the
Turk is displayed. He was regarded by the Ragusans as a law of
nature rather than as an enemy, and a wholesome fear made them
careful to avoid doing or even saying anything to offend him.

Giovanni Gositoij.
iFrvm lie Galleria di /fagutei JIIhiM)

LITERATURE 375

to Italy, and that she will remain independent of the
heathen (the Turlcs), and that neither the Eagle nor the
Cock (the Empire and France) will do her any harm,
and he wishes her freedom and unity. Vetranic is also
the author of a translation of the Hecuba of Euripides.
Andrija Cubranovii (died about 1550), unlike the other
poets mentioned, was a man of the people. His best
known poem is the J^gjupka^ or the Gipsy.^ It seems to
have been a carnival song, and recalls some of the Italian
Canti Carnascialeschi. It is said to have been publicly
recited at Ragusa in 1527, and is considered remarkable
for the purity of the language.

A form of literature much in vogue at Ragusa was
the pastoral play or idyll, based on Italian models. The
Slavonic pastoral play is of two types, that of Ragusa,
which is comic, and that of Lesina, which is more purely
idyllic. The mathematician and astronomer Nikola
Naljeskovic (15 10-1587) achieved some poetic fame as
a writer of these plays, in which the shepherd falls in
love not with the classical nymph, but with the vila of
South-Slavonic popular legend. Another writer of plays
was Marino Driic, praised by his Italian contemporaries
for " il puro vago e dolce canto." His principal works
are Tirena^ Dundo Maroje^ and Novela od Stanca (the
tale from Stanac). He also wrote sacred poems.

Dinko Ranjina or Domenico Ragnina (1536--1607)
was the most famous Ragusan poet of the sixteenth
century. Born of one of the noblest families in the town,
he spent some years in Italy attending to his father s

* Published at Venice in 1599. ' Venice, 1547, 1550.

' Hnd,y 1550.

376 THE REPUBLIC OP RAGUsA

business. Subsequently he returned home and entered
the service of the Republic, and was elected Rector
several times. His poems are chiefly love lyrics ; but
he also wrote epistles, didactic poems, and idylls in the
classical Renaissance manner, as well as translations from
Tibullus, Propertius, and Martial.

Dinko Zlataric (i 556-1 510), also a noble, studied
at Padua, and at the age of twenty-three was appointed
Rector of the University gymnasium. Thence he went
to Agram, and then home to Ragusa. He translated
Tasso's Aminta under the title of Ljubomir^ the Electra
of Sophocles, and the episode of Pyramus and Thisbe
from Ovid, and is the author of a number of love idylls
and didactic poems. With his name is coupled that of
Floria Zuzzeri, a Ragusan lady renowned for her beauty
and her virtue, also a poetess of distinction, whom he
adored. She had been the centre of a little circle of
literary ladies at Ragusa until her father took her to
Ancona on business. There she married Bartolommeo
Pescioni, a wealthy Florentine, in 1577. She settled in
Florence, where she kept a salon frequented by many
famous Italian authors and dilettanti, and also by
Ragusans, such as the aforesaid Zlatari6, Ragnina, and
Giovanni Gondola. She wrote sonnets both in Italian
and Slavonic, some of which became famous throughout
Italy. She died in 1600.

The most celebrated of all the Ragusan poets is Ivan
Gundulic or Giovanni Gondola (158 8- 1638). Very
little is known of his life beyond the fact that he studied
the classics, philosophy, and law, and that he was a great
admirer of Italian literature. He desired to introduce

LITERATURE 377

the harmony of Italian verse into Illyrian, and to purify
that language. He preferred the style of Tasso, which
he closely imitated, to that of Petrarch, till then the
fa\rourite model of Ragusan poets. Instead of a line of
ten, eleven, twelve, or thirteen syllables, he adopted that
of eight, in rhymed strophes, which he deemed more
fluid and vigorous, capable of expressing feelings with
greater power, and more in accordance with the genius of
the language. His first essay was a translation of Tasso's
Gerusalemme^ after which he devoted himself to the
drama, composing or translating from the Italian a num-
ber of plays, which he and a circle of literary friends
produced on the stage. The chief of these are Du-
bravka^ Arijadnay Armida^ and Galatea. But the work on
which his fame chiefly rests, and is regarded as the most
important composition in the Servian language, is the
Osman^ an epic in twenty cantos. The subject is the
war between Turkey and Poland, and the fall of the
Sultan Osman after his defeat. The Polish victory of
Koczim in 1621 forces the Turks to make peace, and
the action of the poem begins at this moment. After
the defeat of the Turks Osman deplores the disaster and
attributes it to the decadence of the Ottomans, and pro-
poses a number of reforms. He orders the arrest of his
uncle Mustafa, who had already usurped the throne
once, sends Ali to Warsaw to sue for peace, and Cislar to
the provinces to find a number of fair damsels, from
among whom he will choose the Sultana, and orders that
the Polish prisoner. Prince Koreski, immured in the
Castle of the Seven Towers, shall be carefully watched.
Ali goes through Moldavia, where he finds Kronoslava,

378 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Koreski's wife, attired as a warrior, and tells her of the
imprisonment of her husband. She resolves to go to
Constantinople in disguise to obtain his ransom. The
Poles celebrate the anniversary of the victory of Koczim,
when Prince Ladislas of Poland has an encounter with
Sokolica, the daughter of the Grand Mogul, and her
amazons ; he captures them, but out of admiration for
their courage sets them free, and they return to Con-
stantinople. AH reaches Warsaw and enters the Royal
Palace, where he notes the splendour of the court and
sees the tapestries representing the battle of Koczim,
here described in detail. He concludes the treaty of
peace and returns home. Cislar has collected a number
of maidens from Greece, Macedonia, and the Archi-
pelago, and goes to the borders of Moldavia to cap-
ture Danica, the daughter of Prince Ljubidrag, who,
having lost his estates, is living in a rural retreat. While
he and his friends are performing rustic games, Cislar
and his companions arrive and carry off Danica. Satan,
enraged at the victories of the Christians, summons his
demons, and flies with them to Constantinople to raise
trouble. There, too, Kronoslava has arrived in search
of her husband ; she is told that he is in love with the
daughter of the governor of the prison, and although not
quite convinced, she begins to feel jealous. By bribery
she manages to see Prince Koreski, is convinced of his
fidelity, and falls into his arms. The Sultan soon after-
wards sets him free, and he returns home with his wife.
Cislar appears with his fair captives, but Osman, seeing
Danica's despair and hearing her story, sends her back to
her father. Sokolica, too, comes to Constantinople, and

LITERATURE 379

Osman chooses her as first Sultana, and marries two
Greek maidens as well. He then prepares for an expe-
dition to Asia against the rebels, but the Janissaries
revolt, and demand the heads of Dilaver Pasha the
Grand Vizir, of the Hodja, and of the chief eunuch.
The rebellion spreads, the Grand Vizir is murdered, and
Osman's uncle Mustafa freed and proclaimed Sultan.
While Osman is deploring his misfortunes and recalling
the glories of his ancestors, he, too, is assassinated by
Mustafa's orders.

This poem, although not of first-rate quality, has
some originality, and is interesting from its subject. It
is only at Ragusa that a Christian writer would have
made a Turkish Sultan his hero, and it is only here and
there that a few passages are introduced reflecting un-
favourably on the Turks. A great deal of it is simply
an adaptation of Tasso, and whole passages are translated
from that work. It is full of repetitions and exaggera-
tions and useless accessories, but it also contains many
passages of real beauty and feeling, such as the address to
Ragusa : ^^ O mayest thou ever live peaceful and free as
thou art now, O white city of Ragusa, famous through-
out the world, pleasing to the heavens. . . . Bondmen
are thy neighbours, oppressive violence grinds them all
down, thy power alone sits on the throne of freedom "
(Canto viii.). Gondola also apostrophises Stephen
Du§an, the Nemanjas, Marko Kraljevic, and other
Servian heroes. Cantos xiv. and xv. were lost, and
have been rewritten by Petar Sorkotevid, Marino Zlat-
aric, and Ivan Mai^uranic. The interest is divided
between the two heroes, Osman and Ladislas, and a

380 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

great deal of the work is lyrical rather than epic in
character.'

Of the prose writers of this time, the one most
deserving of notice is Mauro Orbini, who died in 1601.
His chief work, which is written in Italian, is entitled
Storia del Regno degli Slavi. It is of no great historic
value, but it is important as being the first attempt to
deal with the history of all the Slaves as a comprehensive
whole. Other historians are Niccol6 Ragnina, author of
the Annali di Ragusa^ Giacomo Luccari, whose Copioso
Ristretto degli Annali di Ragusa contains much interesting
information about the constitution of the Republic, and
Giunio Resti, author of the very detailed Cronaca Ragusina^
in thirteen books, a most unreliable work. None of these
writers have shown any conspicuous qualities as historians
of their native city, being inspired by a strong political
bias, and are only to be consulted with caution.

Ragusa gave birth to several men of science, of
whom two deserve to be remembered — Marino Ghetaldi
and Ruggiero Boskovic.* Ghetaldi was born in 1566,
and studied in Rome and Paris. After travelling about
Europe he obtained the professorship of mathematics
at Louvain. He subsequently returned to Ragusa, and
served in the Government offices. In summer he would
retire to his villa by the sea to meditate and make
experiments in a cave on his estates. He was regarded
by the people as a magician, and his experiments in
setting fire to boats out at sea by means of mirrors and

^ Several editions of the Osman have been published, and Appendini
translated it into Italian.
^ Also spelt Boscovich.

LITERATURE 381

burning-glasses were considered quite diabolical. He
wrote Promotus Archimedes^ seu de vartis corporum generibus
gravitate et magnitudine comparatis (Rome, 1603), and
many other mathematical works. He is said to have
applied geometry to algebra before Des Cartes, and to
have been the first to discover equations of the fourth
degree. He died in 1627. Boskovid was born in 171 1,
and became a Jesuit at an early age. He obtained the
professorship of mathematics in Rome, and measured
the meridian between Rome and Rimini with the Eng-
lishman Maire. He made a map of the Papal States,
and wrote a work on the molecular theory of matter,
Theoria Philosophic Naturalis redacta ad unicam Legem
Virium in Natura existentium. In 1759 he was sent to
England on a diplomatic mission, where he made the
acquaintance of Dr. Johnson, and was elected Fellow
of the Royal Society, to whom he dedicated his Latin
poem De Solis et Luna Defectus. He afterwards tra-
velled in Turkey for scientific purposes, ^nd was then
appointed Professor of Mathematics at Pavia (1764) and
Director of the Brera Observatory. His vanity and
egoism made him many enemies, and in 1770 he left
Italy for Paris, where he was made Director of Optics
to the Ministry of Marine, an office which he held for
ten years. In 1783 he returned to Italy and published
all his works. His health was failing, his reputation on
the wane, and he soon fell into melancholy and madness,
and died in 1787. Besides other works, he wrote the
Elementa Universe MathesoSy published in 1754.

CHAPTER XV

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC

RAGUSA now enters into the vortex of the Napo-
leonic wars, in which she, like her great rival
Venice and many another still more powerful
State, was to disappear. The story of her end is but
an incident in that wonderful drama, but it affords some
curious side-lights on the history of Europe at that period,
and exhibits for the last time the peculiar character of the
Ragusan Government and people.

In 1797 the French armies occupied Venice, put an
end to the Republic, and annexed its possessions, while a
French fleet seized the Ionian Islands. In the mean-
while Austrian troops were advancing into Dalmatia,
which, as part of Venetian territory, in theory belonged
to France, and ships of war of all nations began to appear
in the Adriatic. The aristocratic Government of Venice
was for a time succeeded by a democratic one modelled
on French lines, and the new regime was to have been
applied to Dalmatia as well. But by the preliminaries
of Leoben that province and Istria were given over to
Austria. The Dalmatians did not want a democratic
constitution, and for some time Austrian agents had
been preparing them for an Austrian occupation. They
succeeded in inducing the people to acclaim the Emperor

Francis II. as their King, and in July 1797 General

38a

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 383

Rukavina landed at Zara with an army ; in a few weeks he
had occupied the whole of Dalmatia and part of Albania.
But trouble arose at Cattaro among the turbulent Boc-
chesi; some of them favoured the Austrian rigime as
the heir to that of Venice, others, chiefly Orthodox
Christians, desired a union then, as now, with the Vladika
of Montenegro, while a third party was imbued with
French ideas and clamoured for a democratic constitu-
tion. The Vladika himself was hostile to Austria, and
encouraged a rising in Albania. But General Rukavina
conciliated the Cattarini and entered the town without
opposition. By the Peace of Campoformio, Istria, Dal-
matia, and Cattaro, as well as Venice and her mainland
possessions, were ceded to Austria (October 18, 1797).^

The fall of Venice was on the whole satisfactory to
the Ragusans, but the close proximity of the Austrians,
who were useful protectors so long as they remained at a
safe distance, was regarded as a danger. They sent pro-
testations of fealty to Vienna and to the local Austrian
authorities ; their fears were not groundless, for Rukavina
did actually intend to violate their neutrality, as appears
from a despatch from the Austrian Minister Count Thugut
to Count Thum, who had been appointed Governor of
Dalmatia. Thugut disapproved of this project, as he
feared that it might cause trouble with the Turks as pro-
tectors of the Republic. But he complained to d'Ajala,
the Ragusan Minister, that Ragusa was a hotbed of
revolutionary ideas.* The Emperor, however, expressed
his intention of protecting the Republic in every way.

^ Pisani, La Dalmatie de 1797 ^ 181 5, pp. 33 sgg,

^ Ibid,^ pp. 125-126.

384 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

At the end of October a French squadron under
Brueys appeared at Gravosa, and the Admiral offered
the Republic the " good offices ** of France, which were
politely declined on the ground that Ragusa was under
Turkish suzerainty. In August 1798 the French mili-
tary authorities demanded the loan of some ships for the
expedition to Egypt, and the request was granted. This
caused General Brady, in command of the Austrians at
Cattaro, to reprimand the Senate severely for its breach
of neutrality, and he had to be appeased by a loan of
12,000 florins for his war chest. A short time after-
wards a French agent named Briche came to Ragusa to
raise a loan of 1,000,000 francs for France, and by means
of threats induced the Senate to pay 400,000 down and
issue two bills for 100,000 each. Austrian spies dis-
covered this transaction, and informed their Government
that the young men of Ragusa were imbued with French
ideas. But the Senate cleverly protested against this
forced contribution both in Vienna and in Constanti-
nople, and suggested that the most adequate protection
against similar extortions would be the presence of a few
British frigates in the Adriatic. Caracciolo, their agent
at Naples, opened negotiations with the British Minister
for the purpose. At the same time their agent in Paris
tried to obtain the remission of the bills, but without
success, and the 200,000 francs had to be paid to Dubois,
the French Commissary in the Adriatic. Another mis-
fortune befell the Republic, which had a large sum of
money invested in the Bank of Vienna. As the Em-
peror was again going to war the Bank made a call on
the shareholders of 30 per cent, of their capital. Ragusa

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 385

tried to shirk this payment, but in vain, and somehow |

the sum was procured. To meet these liabilities new ]

taxes had to be raised, which fell chiefly on the peasants,

hitherto almost exempt ; the price of salt was increased,

and every one was forced to buy a large amount of that

commodity. This caused serious discontent, especially

among the peasants of Canali, who had never been too

loyal to the Republic; they now refused to pay the

taxes, and rose in revolt. Eight Senators, who owned

land in that district, went to try to induce them to hear

reason, and this mission having failed, the Pasha of

Trebinje was asked to place a corps of observation along

the frontier to prevent the rebels from crossing over into

Turkish territory, while General Brady was asked to send

an Austrian detachment to help to quell the revolt,

expressly requesting that they should be Germans, and

not ex- Venetian soldiers. Brady, however, had too

few troops to dispose of, and no authority to enter

Ragusan territory. At the same time a deputation of

Canalesi called on him and explained their grievances

and the persecutions inflicted by the Ragusans, which

they attributed to the fact "that they (the Canalesi)

had refused to follow the nobles in their Jacobin ideas."

This was enough for Brady, to whom the very name of

Jacobin was anathema; he at once took the Canalesi

under his protection, and wrote to the Senate demanding

that their grievances should be redressed. The Canalesi

also sent a memorandum to the Emperor of Austria,

complaining of the increase of the taxes since 1750, of

the kidnapping of boys to serve on board Ragusan ships,

and of girls to be used by the nobles for illicit purposes,

2 B

386 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

and imploring him to free them from Ragusa's yoke and
take them under his protection. At the same time the Re-
public sent two envoys to Vienna to explain the situation
from the Ragusan point of view, and to represent Brady
as an accomplice of the Turks and the schismatics and a
protector of rebels; and also an envoy to the Divan,
to say that Austria was meditating an invasion of the
Herzegovina.^ The Emperor ordered Brady to pacify the
insurgents, but without using force. When the Austrian
Foreign Office heard of the mission to Constantinople
it was much incensed, but d'Ajala managed to hush the
matter up. The Senate then redressed the grievances of
the Canalesi, and succeeded in restoring order. But the
leaders of the movement were subsequently punished
on various pretexts, and this led to further trouble in
future. The deficit was met by the suppression of the
rich monastery of Lacroma, and the seizure of its
property.

These immediate troubles and dangers having been
warded off, there follows a period of five years (1800-
1805) which is perhaps the most prosperous in the whole
history of the Republic. All the other States of the Medi-
terranean, large or small, were involved in war ; Ragusa
alone remained neutral, and therefore enjoyed almost a
monopoly of the carrying trade. Her ships were more
numerous than they had ever been before, and her income
enormous. English privateers harried French commerce,
and French ones that of England ; Venice was no longer
of any mercantile importance ; the Turks plundered all
Christian ships except those of Ragusa. The Senate,

* R. P. Pregadi^ July ; Pisani, ibid.

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 387

with its traditional diplomacy, kept on good terms with
everybody, especially with the Turks. A few frontier
incidents with Austria occurred, but they were settled
amicably. In 1804 Timoni was appointed Austrian
consul at Ragusa. His instructions were to protect
Austrian commercial interests, and to assure the Senate
that the Emperor intended to protect the Republic and
guarantee the integrity of its territory. When war broke
out between France and Austria in 1 805 Ragusa refused
to commit herself, but Timoni informed his Government
that the sympathies of the citizens were with the French,
and when the " bad news " (of Austerlitz) arrived they
did not conceal their satisfaction. Even in the Senate
more than half the members were Francophil. *' It
appears,*' wrote Timoni, "that this Government, of
which the apathy, indolence, and venality are at their
height, will undergo the fate for which it is destined. . . .
I am convinced that if peace be not concluded, the
French will try to get possession of this Republic, and
form a body of troops here with whom to attack Cattaro.
The only means by which this could be avoided, and
which I venture to submit to the superior intelligence of
your Excellency, is that in case hostilities should re-
commence you should place a garrison in the town until
peace is declared, without, however, interfering in the
aflfairs of the Government." ^

Bru&re was at this time French consul at Ragusa.
He was a cultivated, brilliant man, and had charming
manners. He was also a littirateur^ and composed sonnets
and epigrams in French, Italian, and even in Slavonic.

> Pisani, i(^'</., pp. 135-136.

■^

388 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

He thus soon acquired considerable influence over the
young men of the town, and aroused French sympathies
among them, for which, indeed, the reading of French
books had prepared the way. But these sentiments did
not prevent the Senate from politely refusing to make a
further loan of ammunition and provisions to France,
which Murat demanded in 1801, for they remembered
what bad paymasters the French were. On the contrary,
they tried once more to get their previous loan of
600,000 francs refunded. While the negotiations were
going on the Senate wrote most respectfully to the First
Consul, and when he was proclaimed Emperor they con-
gratulated him enthusiastically in the best Ragusan style,
and he replied with a letter in which he called them his
** dear and good friends."

The Russians had long desired to establish a footing
in the Mediterranean, so as to attack Constantinople
from both sides, and after various fruitless attempts they
determined to seize Ragusa. In 1802 they appointed
Charles Fonton their consul in the town. During the
siege of Malta the French had received some provisions
from Ragusan ships, and the Tsar Paul, deeming this a
good excuse for aggressive action, instructed Fonton to
assume the most brutal manner towards the authorities.
He neglected no opportunity of making a quarrel. First,
he demanded that a house should be provided for him
at the Republic's expense, and when this was complied
with, he said it was not good enough. This ridiculous
dispute lasted two years, and in his correspondence with
the Government he was as insolent and arrogant as only
a Russian consul knows how to be. He also insisted on

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 389

the execution of the clause of the treaty of 1775, that
Orthodox services should be held at Ragusa, and, although
a Githolic himself, he converted an abandoned chapel
into an Orthodox church, where a Montenegrin pope

conducted the services. The Senate made remonstrances
to Vienna, Constantinople, and St. Petersburg about
Ponton's outrageous behaviour, and tried to obtain his
removal. But when these manoeuvres were discovered,
and the anger of Russia was feared, the Senate very
ungratefully made d'Ajala their scapegoat, disowned him,

r
I

390 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

and forced him to resign after thirty years of faithful
service to the Republic.

The Russians, naturally, were anything but popular
at Ragusa, and this strengthened the French sentiments
of the people. C6sar Berthier, the nephew of the
Marshal, flaunted about in the public places and private
houses surrounded by the young men of the best families,
discoursing loudly of the glories of Napoleon, to the
extreme disgust of Fonton.

By the Peace of Pressburg France regained Venetia,
and consequently Istria and Dalmatia. To this last
possession Napoleon attached great importance, as it
formed an excellent base for operations in the Balkans
and in the East. In February 1 806 the French troops
under General Molitor occupied the country as far as
Makarska, and preparations were made for an attack on
Cattaro, where resistance was expected on the part of the
Montenegrins and Albanians, supported by the Russians.

During the war of 1805 Russia had sent a fleet of
forty-two ships and transports, under Admiral Siniavin,
into the Adriatic. After the battle of Austerlitz it con-
centrated at Corfu, and the Admiral was invited by the
Montenegrins to occupy Cattaro. This he did, obliging
the Austrian garrison to retire. Ghislieri, the Austrian
Commissary, who had arranged the evacuation, was
accused of cowardice, for although Austria had given up
Dalmatia to France, he had not yet received orders to
quit his post. The French were furious, and declared
Austria responsible for the Russian occupation of Cat-
taro, which they would now have to attack in force. These
events disturbed the Ragusans, who feared lest the passage

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 391

of French troops through their territory should end in
a permanent occupation. The Senate sent conciliatory
letters to Napoleon, congratulating "the most glorious
of Emperors ** on his victories, and to Talleyrand, " the
most virtuous of Ministers.'* They offered to transport
the French army by sea from Stagno to Ragusavecchia
or Porto Rose, thus avoiding the passage through the
town of Ragusa, and voted 30,000 piastres for the pur-
pose. Unfortunately, Sankovski, the Russian Commis-
sary, heard of the offer, and threatened that if these were
the Republic's intentions he would order the occupation
of Ragusavecchia, adding that the garrison would be a
Montenegrin one, well knowing how the Ragusans hated
and feared those lawless mountaineers. Another Russian
agent came to Ragusa on board a frigate, insisted that all
arrangements with the French should be cancelled, and
ordered the Senate to inform the Russians as to the
movements of the French troops. The Senate instructed
Bassegli and Zlataric, their agents in the French camp, to
do everything to hinder Molitor's advance, by describing
the strength of the Russians and the risks of the march.
This they did, and Molitor was so impressed by their
statements that he gave up the plan for the moment.
His demand for a further loan of 300,000 francs was
refused on the plea that the treasury was empty, although
as a matter of fact it was not. Siniavin now proposed to
attack Ragusa and occupy it, but the Senate's protesta-
tions of loyalty to the Tsar, and possibly its bribes,
induced him to desist from a move which would have
secured him from all fear of a French attack.^

^ Pisdim, passim.

392 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

But now the French General Lauriston came on the
scene, and prepared to advance ; he concentrated a force
at Makarska, and then moved on to Slano in Ragusan

J territory. The Senators were at their wits' end ; the old
diplomacy had broken down in the clash of the Napo-
leonic wars ; they cfould no longer temporise, and were

I under the necessity of calling in either the French or

' the Russians. The latter seemed the more dangerous,
especially on account of their allies, the Montenegrins.
Moreover, the French consul had made many friends,
while his Russian colleague was deservedly hated. Count

f Caboga's proposal that the population should emigrate
en masse to Corfu or Turkish territory was rejected, and

', the majority decided in favour of the French. On the
evening of May 27 Lauriston, with 800 men, reached
Ragusa after a forced march of twenty hours. He
found the gates closed and the drawbridge up; two
Senators met him and requested him not to enter the
town, but this was a mere formality. He repaired to
the Palace, where the Minor Council was assembled, and
declared that his orders were to occupy the fortified
points of the State of Ragusa, but to respect the liberty
of the Republic and the persons and property of the in-
habitants. He oflFered them the protection of Napoleon,
and said that as the Austrian Emperor had closed all
his ports to the Anglo-Russian fleets, it was important
that Ragusa should not remain the only harbour in the
I Adriatic open to the enemies of France. Meanwhile
Colonel Teste with the troops had entered the town and
seized the forts : Ragusa was thus occupied for the first
time in her history by uninvited foreign troops. Great

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 393

consternation ensued, and the Russians at once seized all
the Ragusan ships in the harbour of Gravosa. On May
29 Lauriston issued the following proclamation : —

" Repeated concessions to the enemies of France had
placed the Republic of Ragusa in a state of hostility, all
the more dangerous inasmuch as it was disguised under
the appearance of neutrality and friendship. The entry
of the French troops into Dalmatia, far from putting an
end to such conduct, has only given occasion to our
enemies to exercise their influence on the State of Ragusa
still further, and whatever may have been the motives of
the condescension shown by the magistrates of this State,
the Emperor could not fail to be aware of them ; he de-
sired to put an end to intrigues so contrary to the laws
of neutrality.

** Consequently, in the name and by the authority of
His Majesty the Emperor and King of Italy, I take pos-
session of the town and territory of Ragusa.

" I declare, however, that it is the intention of His
Imperial and Royal Majesty to recognise the independ-
ence and neutrality of this State as soon as the Russians
evacuate Albania, Corfu, and the other former Venetian
possessions, and the Russian fleet ceases to disturb the
coasts of Dalmatia.

** I promise succour and protection to all Ragusans ;
I shall see that the existing laws and customs and the
rights of property be respected ; in a word, I shall so act
that, according to the behaviour of the inhabitants, they
will be satisfied with the residence of the French troops
in the country.

394 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

^^ The existing Government is maintained ; it will
fulfil the same functions and have the same attributions
as before ; its relations with States friendly to France or
neutral will remain on the same footing.

**M. Bru^re, commissioner of commercial relations
(consul)y will act as Imperial Commissary to the Senate.

"Alex. Lauriston.

" Ragusa, May 28, 1806."

This coup de main was most successful , but Lauriston
did not execute the rest of his programme by attacking
Cattaro, for he was himself besieged in Ragusa instead.

His forces amounted, as I have said, to about 800
men, but he sent to Molitor at Zara for reinforcements
and supplies, which arrived from Spalato soon after ; the
garrison was thus raised to 2000. Rugusa was put in a
state of defence, the guns in the arsenal were mounted,
a cargo of powder for the Turks seized, and the Ragusa-
vecchia-Obod line held by 200 Frenchmen. A few days
later the Montenegrins and Orthodox Bocchesi, instig-
ated by the Russians, advanced into Canali, which they
proceeded to pillage, while 500 more landed from Rus-
sian ships near Ragusa vecchia. The French drove them
back, but fearing to be cut oflF if the Russians landed at
Breno, they withdrew to that point, and then to Bergato,
where they were joined by reinforcements under General
Delgorgue. The Russian squadron sailed up and landed
a force at Breno, which encouraged the Montenegrins to
attack Delgorgue. He was hard pressed by the enemy,
who availed themselves of every inch of covtr. On June
17 he attempted a bayonet charge, which failed, and

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 395

he himself was killed in the mSlee ; the retreat became
a routy Bergato was abandoned, and the Russians seized
Monte Sergio and Gravosa. Ragusa was filled with
refugees flying before the Montenegrins, and from that
day was closely invested. A Russian attack on Lacroma
was repulsed, but on the 19th the bombardment com-
menced. The battery on Monte Sergio discharged 3374
shells in seventeen days, but only twenty-three people
were killed. All the houses round the town were razed to
the ground ; the villas of the rich nobles were plundered,
the more valuable contents being seized by the Russian
oflicers, and the rest left to the Montenegrins, Bocchesi,
Canalesi, Bosnians, and even Turks, who had swarmed
down in the hope of loot. The inhabitants who did not
get away in time were murdered and even tortured. On
June 22 there was a suspension of hostilities, and the
nobles tried to induce Lauriston to surrender, which he
refused to do. On the 28th Admiral Siniavin summoned
him to capitulate without success; the bombardment
recommenced, but without much vigour, and the siege
became a blockade.

Suddenly on July 6 a body of French troops appeared
before the Porta Ploce, and soon after Molitor himself
arrived, drove oflF the Russians, and entered the town.
When the news of the defeat at Bergato reached Zara
he had quickly collected 2000 men and advanced on
Ragusa. He sent a message to Lauriston which was de-
signed to fall into the hands of the Russians, announcing
his arrival at the head of 1 0,000 men ; he also made a
small body of troops march several times past a spot
near Ombla whence they could be seen by the enemy.

396 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

The Russians, thus deceived as to the strength of the
French, abandoned Monte Sergio, and together with the
Montenegrins fled to the coast and embarked on board
ship. The French were received at Ragusa with much
show of enthusiasm, for although a large part of the
population had no sympathy with them, they rejoiced
that the siege was at an end, and the fear of a sack of
the town by the Montenegrins removed.

Molitor returned to Zara, Lauriston remaining behind
to organise the French protectorate at Ragusa. He
discovered that the Senate had sent an agent to Con-
stantinople with a report bitterly reviling the French,
another to Vienna and St. Petersburg asking for inter-
vention in favour of Ragusa, and a third to Paris with a
humble letter to Napoleon, and instructions to ask the
Turkish ambassador to protest against the occupation of
a State tributary to the Porte. He also learned that the
Republic had deposited 700,000 florins in Schuller^s
bank at Vienna, of which a part had been withdrawn in
March and June. The French Commissary there-
upon declared that henceforth all affairs dealt with by
the Senate and the Minor Council should be first com-
municated to him, and that no payments were to be
made without his authority.

Although Lauriston in his proclamation of May 29,
1 806, had promised that Ragusa would be evacuated when
peace was declared, the French had no intention of doing
so, and on July 2 1 Napoleon wrote to Eugene Beauhar-
nais : " You will make General Lauriston observe that if
I have said in the treaty (the peace of Oubril, which the
Tsar afterwards refused to ratify) that I recognise the

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 397

independence of Ragusa, that does not mean that I shall
evacuate it; on the contrary, when the Montenegrins
have gone home, I intend to organise the country,
and then abandon it if necessary, retaining only Stagno.*'
The Ragusans did not know of this, and believed that
they would soon be free, but their hopes were dashed to
the ground when, on August 24, war broke out again.

The French paid the indemnities for the siege very
liberally — 1 3,000, ocx) francs — as the money was to be
provided for by Austria, whom they held responsible for
all the consequences of the Russian occupation of Cattaro.
On the strength of this generosity the Senate tried once
more through Count Sorgo, a Ragusan resident in Paris, to
get the other loan of 600,000 francs refunded, but without
success. At last, on July 8, 1 807, the Peace of Tilsit was
signed, by which Russia gave up Cattaro to the French.
Berthier, in a letter to General Marmont, who was now
in command in Dalmatia, wrote : ^^ Ragusa must certainly
be united to Dalmatia ; you must therefore continue to
fortify it." On August 13 Marmont stopped at Ragusa
on his way to Cattaro, and received the Senators very
aflfably ; but in the course of conversation he said to one
of them : " Vous allez ^tre des notres." On being asked
for an explanation of these ominous words, he added
*^ that in the present circumstances they could not remain
free : the delegates having said that without merchant
shipping the State could not exist, Marmont replied that
by belonging to the great Emperor His Majesty would
find means of compensating them. The next day the
General told the delegates who had called on him
that he was instructed to inform them of their future

398 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

destiny, and that pending the arrival of those to whom
the organisation of the new Government was entrusted,
that of Ragusa might continue in its functions.*' ^

The declaration seemed the death-knell of Ragusan
independence, and Timoni describes the condition of the
State in consequence of the French occupation : "Agri-
culture ruined, the merchant navy reduced to inaction,
public finances dilapidated, private citizens crushed down
by requisitions, the monasteries converted into barracks,
the invasion of the Jews as army contractors, the estab-
lishment of a masonic lodge and a club, and on the top
of all this the blindness of the people and the bourgeoisie
who receive the French with open arms." As Timoni
observes, the French party was still strong among the
middle and lower classes, who were tired of the oligarchic
rule of the nobles.

As soon as Marmont had departed a secret meeting of
the Senate was held, and it was decided to send a disguised
messenger to Vienna with a petition to the Emperor of
Austria. As usual insufficient secrecy was observed, and
Marmont heard of their action, but did nothing for the
moment. On November 4 a demand was made for 300
sailors for the Franco-Venetian fleet, to which the Senate
replied that in Ragusa there was always an insufficiency
of seamen, that a third of the crews were foreigners,
and that many of their ships had been captured by the
Russians or were abroad. Instructions were sent to
Kiriko, the Ragusan consul at Constantinople, to try to
obtain Turkish intervention. But the French ambassador,

^ Timoni's despatches to the Austrian Chancery, quoted by Pisani,
tbid.^ pp. 299-3oa

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 399

General Sebastiani, had so much influence with the Porte
that Kiriko had been obliged to remove the Ragusan arms
from his house, and to request the Ragusan ship-captains
to substitute the tricolor for the banner of St. Blaize.
For this the Republic dismissed him from his office, and
sent Antonio Natali to inform the Sultan of the dangers
which menaced *^ the oldest and most faithful tributary
of the Porte." On December 21 Lauriston informed
the Minor Council that Ragusan ships must take out
Italian patents within three days on pain of being seized
on leaving the port. The Senate replied that it could
not take such a step without consulting the Ottoman
Government. Two days later Lauriston left Ragusa,
and on the 26th Colonel Godart put up a notice declaring
that any captain who did not hoist the Italian colours at
once would be imprisoned. On January 2, 1 808, General
Clauzel took command of Ragusa, and on the 6th the
tricolor was hoisted on the flagstaff in the Piazza. The
Senate tried to send Count Oboga to the Emperor of
Austria, but Clauzel prevented his departure. Urgent
messages were despatched to Constantinople, and over-
tures were even made to Timoni. " Consul/* they said
significantly, "Ragusans or Austrians." The Pasha of
Bosnia was also approached, but he was friendly to the
French, and informed them of all the Ragusans* com-
munications. On the 30th Marmont returned to Ragusa,
and summoned the Senate, saying that he had a declaration
to make. ** The Council," writes Timoni, " gathered to-
gether in less than an hour, and Colonel Delort repaired to
the Palace, followed by the Consul Brufere, the war com-
missary, the commander of the garrison, the interpreter

400 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Vernazza, and two other officers. The Colonel sat down
beside the Rector, and read out to the Senate a document
in which the Government of Ragusa was accused of dis-
loyalty, of having set the Pasha of Bosnia against the
French, of having tried to raise an agitation among the
people ; the intimation made by Marmont the preceding
August not having had any effect, it was now necessary
to take further measures. He then drew another paper
from his pocket, and read as follows : —

" * The General Commander-in-Chief in Dalmatia
orders : The Republic of Ragusa has ceased to exist ;
the Government and the Senate, as well as the law-
courts, are dissolved. M. Brufere is appointed pro-
visional administrator of the State of Ragusa.*

** The Senators were silent for a while ; then Count
Biagio Bernardo Caboga arose, and informed the Colonel
that neither the moment nor the circumstances permitted
him to enter into a long justification; that, as far as
concerned himself, his conscience was pure and clear, and
that he could answer for the loyalty of his colleagues.
The Senate was ready to submit to the Divine Will as
manifested through the organ of His Majesty Napoleon
the Great."
I Meanwhile troops seized the Palace, the Segrctcria,

and the custom house, on which seals were affixed. That
night the burghers of Ragusa gave a ball to celebrate
the end of the oligarchy ! But though resistance might
now seem indeed hopeless, the Senate continued to intrigue
for a little while longer. Napoleon then ordered Mar-
mont to arrest ten of the chief agitators and send them
to Venice as hostages, and to threaten to shoot all

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 401

who were found to be in correspondence with foreign
Governments. The nobles ceased to agitate openly, but
they did not yet renounce all hope of regaining their
independence.

In March, 1808, Marmont was created Duke of
Ragusa, a title of which, according to Pisani, he was not
very proud, for in his memoirs he mentions it as having
been conferred on him in 1807, perhaps because he did
not like to be reminded of the fact that it was a reward
for his services in the suppression of a free Republic.

Napoleon had appointed the Venetian Dandolo Prov-
veditore of Dalmatia, while General Marmont retained
the supreme military command. But Ragusa and Cat-
taro were given a separate administration under G. D.
Garagnin, who was independent of Dandolo, and respon-
sible only to Marmont. The territory of the Republic
was divided into three districts: Ragusa, Stagno, and
the Islands. Ragusa was given a council of eighteen
members (six nobles, six burghers, and six plebeians),
with Count Sorgo as mayor, and four adjoints. The
State's finances proved to be still in good condition in
spite of all the troubles and the requisitions, and large
sums were invested in foreign banks.

After the departure of the Russian fleet the British
squadron appeared in the Adriatic and began to prey
upon French and Dalmatian shipping. During the next
three years fighting continued in Croatia between the
Austrians and the French, and trouble was threatened in
the Bocche by the native Orthodox Christians supported
by the Montenegrins. The French General Pacthod
visited Cattaro, made some arrests, shot three of the

2 c

402 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

agitators, and calmed the rest of the population. But
the British fleet ceaselessly cruised up and down, and
prevented the French from maintaining secure commu-
nications between Italy and Dalmatia. The British crews
had one great advantage over the French — they were
all Englishmen, and veterans ; whereas the French ships
were manned by scratch crews, consisting of Italians
and Slaves, as well as of Frenchmen. In 1 810 lissa was
made the port of call for British ships, but not fortified.
In October a Franco-Italian squadron under Captain
Dubordieu, in the absence of British men-of-war, seized
the island and captured a few merchantmen; but he
abandoned it again on the return of the fleet, and the
British now decided to occupy it permanently. Dubor-
dieu received orders to try to recapture it, and on March
II, 1 8 1 1 , he set sail from Ancona with nine warships,
271 guns, and 2655 men. On the 13th he encountered
a British squadron under Captain Hoste, consisting of
four ships with 188 guns and 985 men. In spite of this
great disparity of forces Hoste gave battle, and was com-
pletely victorious ; most of the enemies* ships were sunk
or captured. The British were equally successful in
subsequent engagements, and Lissa was strongly fortified
and formally taken possession of in 18 12. The island
prospered enormously under British rule, and the popu-
lation rose from 4000 to 1 1 ,000. In January Sir Duncan
Robertson, commanding at Lissa, occupied Curzola, which
was given a government like that of Lissa under Lowen,
and became equally prosperous. The Ragusan island of
Lagosta was occupied at the same time.

In the following May the British determined to

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 403

occupy the other Ragusan islands. On February 1 8 an
attack was made on Mezzo, but repulsed. The island
was then blockaded ; part of the garrison deserted, and
the rest under Lieutenant Tock retired to the Forte
della Montagna. A British force landed, seized the
Forte Santa Maria, and placed a battery on a hill com-
manding Tock*s position. Unable to hold out any
longer, he surrendered to Blake with the honours of war.
Giuppana was also captured, and then Calamotta, and
the Ragusan Count Natali was appointed Governor of
the Archipelago under British protection. An attack
on Ragusavecchia was repulsed by a Croatian battalion
on October 1 1 ; but two days later that same battalion
deserted from the French to the English side, and Count
Biagio Bernardo Caboga was appointed Governor of the
town. The same day another Croatian detachment
abandoned the island of Daksa at the entrance of the
harbour of Gravosa, and a British force occupied Stagno.
Thus Ragusa was blockaded from the sea on all sides.
On November 11, 1813, Hoste attacked the island of
Lesina, and captured it without difficulty.

In this same year an Austrian army invaded Dalmatia
and co-operated with the British fleet; the population
being tired of French exaction rose in arms in favour
of the Austrians. The French, attacked on all sides,
were forced to abandon many towns and fortresses. For
a time the British under Cadogan, the Austrians under
General Tomasic, and the Dalmatian insurgents under
Danese all worked together for the expulsion of the
invaders. But in the operations round Ragusa and
Cattaro a certain amount of friction arose between the

I
I

404 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

British and the Austrians. The French forces too, how-
ever, were not homogeneous, and the number of deser-
tions from the Italian and Croatian regiments, whose
hearts were not in the fight, was very large. The Allies
were assisted by an anti-French movement in Ragusa
itself; but while the nobles and the peasantry desired
the restoration of the Republic, the bourgeoisie still
evinced French tendencies. The other Dalmatians
wished to be under Austrian dominion.

The British fleet, as I have said, had occupied the
Ragusan islands, where a provisional Government was set
up under Ragusan nobles, and the old Ragusan laws were
revived. With the capture of Stagno the whole country
west of the Ombla rose in favour of the Anglo-Austrians,
and Captain Lowen issued a proclamation to the Ragusans
from Mezzo, declaring that " the English and Austrian
forces were advancing towards this country to give it
back its liberty. . . . Remember that you bear a glorious
name, and fight as the Spaniards and the Russians have
fought to restore your independence." The Austrian
proclamation issued by General Hiller contained no
mention of the word independence.

In the meanwhile the Ragusans Count Caboga and
Marchese Bona raised a force of 3000 Canalesi ; as this
was not sufHcient to recapture Ragusa, it became necessary
to apply for British assistance. But no one wished to be
the first to ask for it, as it was feared that if the British
did seize Ragusa they might end by retaining it ; while
if they failed, the French would show no mercy on the
rebels. At last it was agreed to send a popular deputa-
tion of twenty-five peasants to Captain Hoste, who was

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 407

in command of the squadron at Cattaro, asking for help
from the Allies to re-establish the Republic. According
to Bona, Hoste and Lowen gave them a safe-conduct,
declaring that the Canalesi, under the protection of the
Allies, were to act for the common cause, and promised
to send an English force to Canali. The Canalesi rose
in revolt, and drove the French gendarmes and patrols
out of the country. As no English force arrived, a second
deputation went to Hoste, who sent Lowen to Ragusa-
vccchia, but no men to Canali. Caboga then proclaimed
the general revolution, but was forced to fly from the
French police. On October 28 a small British de-
tachment under Lieutenant Macdonald landed at Ragusa-
vecchia, raised the British flag, and declared that the ancient
laws of Ragusa were revived in the place of the French
ones, and Count Caboga was made commandant of the
town pro tempore. The raising of the British flag and
the appointment of Caboga displeased the Ragusan
nobles, who regarded these acts as infringements of their
own rights. They met in council, and proposed to send
an agent to Constantinople to notify the restoration of
the Republic to the Sultan and place it once more under
his suzerainty. Caboga spoke against the proposal as
constituting a slight to the English, whereupon he was
at once accused of having sold himself to them. Lowen
was then asked for permission to raise the Ragusan stand-
ard, but he said that he had no authority, and that
application must be made to Admiral Fremantle, who
held the chief command in the Adriatic. But when
Hoste arrived at Ragusa vecchia on November 15, he
at once had the standard of St. Blaize hoisted, saluted it

. v.

408 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

with twenty-one guns from his frigate, and proclaimed
the independence of the Republic.

Caboga then determined to begin the attack on
Ragusa with his insurgents. The town was at that time
a first-class fortress. The Porta Ploce was defended by
the Revellino, and the Porta Pile by the Forte San
Lorenzo; while on Monte Sergio the Forte Imperiale
had been erected the previous year. An assault on the
latter having failed, the blockade was commenced. At
first the operations were not very successful, for although
Bona raised some of the people of the Primorije, the
chiefs of the villages beyond Slano told him that they
had been ordered by General Tomasic to swear fealty to
Austria alone — a proof of that Power*s intentions with
regard to Ragusa. Captain Hoste also refused to pro-
vide a landing party or a siege train. Lowen was next
applied to, and he landed fifty men, appointing Caboga
" Commander-in-Chief of the Insurgent Forces besieging
Ragusa.'' But the besiegers had no artillery, and at
their headquarters at Gravosa there were only 300 or
400 men, while a party of the French-Ragusan National
Guard, under Colonel Giorgi, had succeeded in arrest-
ing some of the nobles at Gravosa on November 25.
Montrichard, who commanded the Ragusan garrison,
determined on a sortie on the night of December 8.
Native spies informed the besiegers of the plan, and an
ambuscade was prepared to meet the attacking party as
they issued from Porta Pile. But midnight, the hour
fixed for the sortie, having passed, and no one appearing,
the insurgents thought that the idea must have been
given up, and returned to Gravosa. Then a Croatian

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 409

detachment under Grguric, and an Italian one under
Paccioni, issued forth from Ragusa and attacked the
insurgents' headquarters at 2 a.m. But the advance was
revealed by two deserters who fired ofF their rifles, and Pac-
cioni failed to co-operate with Grguric^. The sortie was
therefore repulsed, but with small losses on either side.

On January 3, 18 14, the Austrian General Milutinovic
arrived before Ragusa at the head of two battalions,
bringing letters from Baron Tomasic, who thanked
Caboga and Bona for their services. His first act, how-
ever, was to attempt to disband the local volunteers, to
which Caboga refused to agree, demanding the recog-
nition of the insurgents as independent belligerents.
This Milutinovic^ granted, as he was not strong enough
to refuse, and he left Caboga in command of the
besiegers during his own absence at Cattaro. Having
failed to take that town he returned to Gravosa on the
13th. The nobles were dissatisfied with Caboga, whom
they regarded as being in the pay of foreigners, and on
the night from the 17 th to the i8th of January they
met at Count Giorgi's house at Gravosa, and proclaimed
the re-establishment of the Republic. D'Ajala and
Bosgiovic notified the event to the Emperor of Austria
and the Sultan respectively, and a deputation waited on
Milutinovic for the same purpose. The General pre-
tended to acquiesce, as he was not in a position to do
otherwise. Hoste, although he had little sympathy for
the rebels, was not sorry to see Milutinovic in difficulties.
When the latter, however, asked him for artillery, after
refusing, he agreed to supply two guns and four mortars,
which were landed on the 20th. On the 21st the

4IO THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

bombardment was commenced, but did little damage at
first. An attack on Forte Imperiale failed, but a few
days later another battery was raised at San Giacomo, and
armed with ten British guns, brought into position by a
difficult and circuitous route ; it opened fire at once on
Forte Imperiale and Lacroma.

On the 25 th Montrichard, who was certainly no
hero, communicated with the besiegers with a view to
capitulation, and on the 26th explained their proposals to
his council of defence. Grguric^, Paccioni, and Major
Sfebe, who were the most energetic of his officers, replied
that as the walls were intact, the population quiet, provi-
sions ample, and there were 152 guns, the garrison was not
in any of the cases justifying a capitulation according to
the regulations. Montrichard pretended to give way,
but the next day he arranged for a popular demonstra-
tion of some 200 people, who hooted the Italian troops,
while a member of the crowd raised the Ragusan stand-
ard on one of the towers. This gave him the required
excuse, and some hours later a capitulation was
agreed upon, by which the Anglo-Austrians were to
enter the town at midday on the 28th, but the insurgents
were not to be admitted until disarmed. The French
and Italian troops were to be shipped to Ancona without
the honours of war. When Caboga heard the terms of
the capitulation he was most indignant, because a few
days previously Milutinovic^ had promised that on the
surrender of the town 200 armed insurgents should enter
it together with the troops, that the Ragusan flag should
be raised on the forts with that of Austria and Great
Britain, and that the civil government should be carried

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 411

on by Caboga and the commission of nobles. Finding
himself thus betrayed, he ordered Count Natali to be
ready with an armed body of insurgents at the Porta
Ploce, to enter as soon as it was opened and proclaim
the restoration of the Republic. The citizens got wind
of this plan, and fearing that the insurgents might think
more of plunder than of the Republic they informed
Milutinovic. The General worked all night to get the
Porta Pile, which had been blocked up during the siege,
open by dawn. In this he succeeded, and at an early
hour his Croatians entered the town with two guns. In
the meanwhile the insurgents were waiting outside the
other gate, and when, at twelve o'clock, it was opened
and they rushed towards the bridge, they found them-
selves faced by the Austrian troops with fixed bayonets
and the two guns. They saw that the game was up, and
dispersed to their homes. They returned later unarmed,
carrying instead of rifles fruit and vegetables to sell in
the market.

Milutinovic dissolved the National Guard organised
by the French, and the Austrian troops seized all the
posts. On the 29th the Austrian standard was raised
on the Orlando column, and Austrian and English
detachments occupied the forts. The French garrison
left, and a few days later the British fleet set sail. Its
share of the booty consisted of a few guns, some powder,
and tobacco.

The party of the nobles, although it was obvious that
the Republic was no more, especially after the departure
of the English, did not yet abandon all hope. On
February 15 the civil oflicials swore fealty to the

412 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Emperor of Austria as King of Dalmatia, Ragusa, and
Cattaro, and on March 2 the clergy did the same. The
latter had sworn fealty a short time before to Napoleon,
but Milutinovi<5 had won them over by his respect for
Catholic ceremonies, although he himself was a member
of the Orthodox Church. The Austrians now wished to
round off their Dalmatian possessions by occupying the
Ragusan islands; but Count Natali declared that the
government of them had been entrusted to him by
the British before Austria had joined the coalition, and
that he would not surrender them until he received an
authorisation from Admiral Fremantle. Count Caboga
was appointed by Austria provisional Intendant of
Ragusa, with instructions to follow the ordinances
established by the French. The bourgeoisie accepted
Austrian rule as a pis alter rather than return under
the oligarchy. The peasants were overawed by the
troops, and gave no further trouble. The nobles, how-
ever, were profoundly dissatisfied, and still continued to
agitate in secret for a return to the status quo. General
Tomasic instructed Milutinovi^ to spare their feelings as
much as possible. ** In dealing with them,** he wrote,
"you must not use the words milssen and soUen^ but
instead bitten^ ersuchen^ ^

In January Marchese Bona had gone to Vienna to
plead the cause of Ragusan independence. He was at
first received at the Imperial Chancery with great cour-
tesy, but obtained no promises. When, however, the
Ragusan intrigues at Constantinople and the double game
played by the nobles were disclosed, he received orders

1 Le. "beg'* and "request," rather than "must" and "shall."

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 413

from the police to quit the town within a fortnight.
He then departed, leaving a dignified protest against the
insults offered to him, and against the denial of justice
to the claims of his fellow-citizens.

At Ragusa the nobles continued in their opposition,
and assailed all the magistrates who did not belong to
their own order. General Tomasid, to please them, dis-
missed three officials who were of the bourgeoisie and put
nobles in their places. Emboldened by this concession,
they went about declaring that the Congress of Vienna
was going to proclaim the independence of Ragusa, like
that of the Republic of Cracow. ** The Ragusans," as Pisani
writes, " had but too much reason to compare their own
fate to that of Poland, and in seeking the causes of their
misfortunes one may find more than one feature of
resemblance between them and the Poles." ^

At last General Milutinovid lost patience, and when
a deputation of nobles came to propose a series of ad-
ministrative reforms which would have prepared the way
for the restoration of the Constitution, he threatened to
imprison all who took part in secret conclaves, and in his
report of April 4 he denounced the nobles for their
correspondence with the Turks. But when he departed
to attack Cattaro for the second time, he left a Hung-
arian officer named Wittman, a weak and incapable
person, in charge, and under his feeble rule the plots
began again. The nobles succeeded in winning back
Caboga to their side, by showing him (according to
Pisani) some forged documents, in which it was stated
that the Congress really intended to re-establish Ragusan

* Pisani, pp. 457-58.

414 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

independence ; fearing, therefore, that if the nobles came
into power once more they would exile him and con-
fiscate his property, he communicated some valuable
documents to them, such as Lowen's proclamation at
Ragusavecchia of Ragusan independence, which they sent
to England to be submitted to the Congress by the
British Ministers. But when Caboga saw that he had
been hoodwinked, he returned to Austrian allegiance. A
deputation of nobles went to Zara to wait on General
Tomasic, but without result. On July 13 Milutinovi<5
returned in triumph from Cattaro, which he had reduced
to order, and made the following proclamation : —

**The Imperial and Royal Chancery has been pleased
to inform me by a Note of January 3 that, in conse-
quence of an agreement between the allied Powers, the
territory included under the name of lUyria during the
rule of Napoleon, and consequently the State of Ragusa,
the islands depending from it, and the Bocche di Cattaro
are definitely made over to the Imperial and Royal Court
of Austria.

'^ I notify this decision so that the inhabitants of the
said provinces may learn their fate, and try to deserve,
by a prompt and loyal submission, the effects of the
benevolence of Our august Sovereign the Emperor and
King Francis I.

" By the Civil and Military Government of Dalmatia,
Ragusa, and Cattaro.

** Baron ToMASid, F eldmarschalULieutenant.

" By authentic copy.
" MiLUTiNOvid, General-Major.

"Zara, yi/^ 7."

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 415

This proclamation was received respectfully and in
silence. Only one noble, Marchese Francesco Bona,
tried to raise a rebellion among the peasants, and was at
once arrested and imprisoned in the Forte San Lorenzo.
On August 29 the Municipal Council was summoned
to elect a deputation to the Emperor-King. Miluti-
novic had returned to Cattaro, and although Wittmann,
who was in charge, was present at the sitting, it proved
a stormy one. Count Pozza-Sorgo declared that if a
deputation were sent to the Emperor of Austria, another
should also be sent to the King of England, whose forces
had contributed at least as effectively as those of Austria
in driving out the French. But as Marchese Michele
Bona was already on a mission to the Allies it was use-
less to send another; the choice of the delegates was
therefore adjourned, and the motion accepted by ten votes
to eight. Caboga summoned the Council again on
September i , when the delegation was chosen ; the
Council was about to break up when the Mayor, Bosdari,
received a sealed packet. On opening it he found that
it contained the solemn protest of forty of the nobles
who had signed the act of January 18. ** It is we,"
they declared, "who have been constituted from that day
the sovereign Council, and have the sole authority to
speak in the name of our country." Wittmann took the
protest and forwarded it to Zara, and he also informed
Milutinovic of the occurrence. The next day all the
signatories of the document were arrested save eighteen,
who fled to the islands under British protection. At
II A.M. Milutinovic arrived, and issued a proclamation
describing the protest as an " act of frenzy," and inviting

4i6 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

the people to sign a counter-protest. This was done,
and Bosdari requested the General to liberate all the
nobles who were willing to sign a declaration of sub-
mission to the Emperor. Milutinovic agreed, and in-
cluded the fugitives in the amnesty, on condition that
they returned within eight days. The nobles signed the
oath, and on September 15 an assembly of the people
elected a deputation to go to Zara and swear fealty in
the name of all. Milutinovic^ then addressed a very
severe admonition to the nobles, and all of that order
who occupied judicial positions were dismissed.^

The Ragusan archipelago remained under British
protection until July 16, 18 15. On August 3, 18 16,
Dalmatia and Ragusa received a definite organisation by
Imperial rescript, and Baron Tomasic was appointed
Statthalter or Military and Civil Governor, and Milu-
tinovid departed from Ragusa. The Emperor assumed
the title of Duke of Ragusa, which his successors still
bear.

Thus ends, after more than twelve hundred years, the
history of the Republic of Ragusa. Its Government and
citizens may have had their defects, but they were full
of a real, if somewhat narrow, patriotism. The State
conferred a prosperity and happiness on its inhabitants
which have fallen to the lot of few peoples during
that long and troubled period, while the peculiar, and
almost unique, position occupied in European history
and polity by the tiny Commonwealth may perhaps
justify the appearance of this volume.

* 'P\s3Ln\^ passi/N.

.»

LIST OF BOOKS ON THE
HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF RAGUSA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

G. Valentinelli, BMografia della Dalma%ia e del Montenegro^ Zagabria
(Agram), 1855-56.

COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

Monumenta Ragustna^ edit. Raj^ki and Gelcich, in the *<MonumeDta
Spectantia Historiam Slavorum Meridionalium," published by the
South-Slavonic Academy of Agram, vol. x. &c., 1879 ^^*

Dlpiomatarlum relationum Re'tpublica Ragusina cum Regno Hungarian edit.
Gelcich and Thalloczy, published by the Magyar Tudomanyos
Akad^mia, Budapest, 1887.

F. Miklosich, Monumenta Serbicdy Wien, 1858.

Orsat Medo-Po2i2 (Count Pozza), Spomenki Srpskly u Beogradu (Bel-

grad), 1858.
Tafel und Thomas, Grlechische Urkunden^ in the Sitzungsberichte der

kaiserliche Wiener Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-

historischer Klasse, Wien, 185 1.

G. Valentinelli, Esposizione del Rapporti fra la Repuhhtica Veneta e gR

Siavi Meridlonai'u Brant tratti dai Diarj di Marin Sanudof^ 1 863.
A. Theiner, Vetera Monumenta Slavorum Meridionalium Historiam spect"

antiay Romx, 1863.
Ra^ki, DubrovaXki Spomenici^ published by the South-Slavonic Academy

in the «<Surine" for 1879.

CHRONICLES AND GENERAL HISTORIES

OF RAGUSA

Niccol6 Ragnina, jlnnali di Ragusa^ and yfnnali jinonimi di Ragusa^ pub-
lished by the South-Slavonic Academy among the Scriptores.

417 2 D

41 8 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

Giunio Resti, Chronica Ragusinaj condnued by G. Gondola, published

by the South-Slavonic Academy.
Serafino Razzi» La Storia di Raugla^ Lucca, 1 588.
G. Luccari, Cofnoso Ristretto degli jlnnaR dl Raguia^ 1790.
J. C. von Engel, Geschichte des FreystaaSet Ragusa^ Wien, 1807.
F. M. Appendini, Nott%ie Istorico'Critiche . . . J^r' Ragusel^ Ragusa, 1803.
Giuseppe Gelcich, Dello Sviluppo Civile di Ragusoy Ragusa, 1884.

HISTORIES OF OTHER COUNTRIES

Cronache Venexiane jlntichijsimfy edit. Monticolo, Roma, 1890.
Andrea Dandolo, Chron'uon Venetuniy in Muratori's Rer. Ital, Script, ^

torn. xii.
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio.

E. Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire^ edit.

J. B. Bury, London, 1901.
J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire^ London, 1887.
Romanin, Storia Documentata di Vene%iay Venezia, 1853.
Horatio Brown, Venice^ London, 1893.

F. C. Hodgson, The Early History of Venice^ London, 1901.
Mauro Orbini, Regno degli Slavic Pesaro, 1601.

G. Lucio, De Regno Daimatue et Croatia^ Amstelodami, 1666.
Presbyter Diocleas, Regnum Slavorum^ published in Lucio's De Regno

Dalmatic et Croatia^ 1666.
filter und Neuer Staat des Konigreichs Dalmatien^ 17 1 8.
P. J. Schafarik (Safaifik), Slatvische jllterthUmery Leipzig, 1843-44.

A. Gil'ferding (Hilferding), Geschichte der Serben und Bulgaren^ 1856,

1864.

B. Kallay, Geschichte der Serben^ Leipzig, 1878.
V. Klaid, Geschichte Bosniensy Leipzig, 1885.
William Miller, The Balkan Statesy London, 1896.
Sagredo, Memorie Istoriche dei Monarchi Ottomanniy 1697.

Hammer- Purgstall, Histoire de P Empire Ottomany traduit par J. F. Hellert,

Paris, 1835-42.
Stanley Lane-Poole, The Barbary Corsairsy London, 1890.

LIST OF BOOKS 419

COMMERCIAL HISTORIES

Heydy H'utmre du Commerce du Levant au Moyen Age^ Leipzig, 1885.
Carlo Antonio Marin, Storia Civile e PoRtica del Commercio dei Vene%iani^

Vcnczia, 1798.
C* J. Jire^ek^ Die Handehstrassen und Bergnverke von Serbien und Boinien

wdhrend des MittelalterSy Prag, 1879.

SPECIAL HISTORIES

lAbtr Statutorum Civitatis Rhacusii (MS. in the Franciscan Library at

Ragusa).
D. Farlati and J. Coleti, Illyricum Sacrum^ Venetiis, 1 751-18 19.
G. Lucio, Memorie Istoriche di Tragurio^ published in his De Regno Dal-

mati£f 1666.
P. Pisani, Num Ragusini ob omni jure Veneto a s£c, x usque ad sac, xiv

immunes fuerinty Paris, 1893.
Gelcich, La Zedda e la Dinastia dei BalliiSf Spalato, 1899.
Gelcich, / Conti di Tuheljy 1889.

**G. G.," Turchi e Cristiani^ in the •* Annuario Dalmatico" for 1884.
**G. G.," In Tenebris Lux^ in the « Annuario Dalmatico" for 1885.
Relatione del? Orribile Terremoto seguito nella Citta di Ragusa^ Venetia,

1667.
Ludovicus Cervarius Tubero, Commentariolus de Temporibus Suis^ 1603.
V. Bogi2i^, article on theStanico in the *<Archiv fiir Slawische Philologie,"

Berlin, vol. ii., 1877.
J. Pisko, Skanderbegy Wien, 1894.
T. Chcrsa, Degli Illustri Toscani in Ragusa,

Antonio degl' Ivellio, Saggio sulla Colonia e il Contadinaggio di Ragusa,
Paolo, Cavaliere de Re^tar, La Zecca della Repubblica di Ragusa^

Spalato, 1 89 1.
P. Pisani, La Dalmatie de 1797 a 181 5, Paris, 1893.
Tullio Erber, Storia della Dalmazia dal 1797 al 18 14, Zara, j886, &c.
Sir William Hoste, Memoirs and Letters, London, 1833.
£in Gedenkbuch der Erhebung Ragusas in dem Jahren 1 8 1 3- 1 4, edit. G.

Gelcich, in the ** Archiv fiir osterreichische Geschichte," Wien,

▼ol. Ixiv., 1882.
Comte Due de Sorgo, Fragments sur Pffistoire . , , de Raguse, Paris,

1839.

420 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

ART AND LITERATURE

Philippus de Diversis de Quartigianis, Situs AeMfictorum Ragusli^ edit

Brxinelli, Zara, 1882.
T. Graham JacksoD, Dalmatian the Quarnero^ and htria^ Oxford, 1887.
R. TOO Eitelberger tod Edelberg, Kunstdenkmale Dalmatieruy vol. it. of

his Gesammelte kunsthistorische Schriften^ Wien, 1884.

E. Freeman, Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice^

LoDdon, 1 88 1.
Gliubich (Ljubid), Dizionario Biografico della Dalma%ia,
Galleria di Ragusei Illustri^ Ragusa, 184I.

A. N. Puipin UDd W. Spasowicz, Geschichte der Slaviscben Literature

Leipzig, 1880.
AppcDdini, Versione Libera delP Osmanide.

TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL

B. Ramberti, Libri Tre delle Cose dei Turchif lS39«

CateriDO Zen's journey to Constantinople, published in Starine x. of

the South- Slavonic Academy, 1878.
Nicholas de Nicolay, Les Navigations et Peregrinations et Voyages fmcti

en la Turquie^ Anvers, 1 576.
Des Hayes de Courroenin, Voyage de Levant ^ Paris, 1649.
Thomas Watkins, Travels through Swisserland^ Italy . , . to Constanii'^

nople^ London, 1794.

F. C. H. L. Pouqueville, Voyage dans la Grece^ Paris, 1826.

J. D. F. Neigebauer, Die Siid-Slaven und deren Lander^ Leipzig, 1851.
F. Petter, Dalmatien,

A. A. Paton, Highlands and Islands of the Adriatic^ London, 1849.
Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, Dalmatia and Montenegro^ London, 1848.
W. F. Wingfield, A Tour in Dalmatia, Albania, and Montenegro, with a

Historical Sketch of the Republic of Ragusa, London, 1859.
Arthur J. Evans, Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot, . . •

with an Historical Revie^w of Bosnia, London, 1876.

This list does not claim to be a complete bibliography by any means,
nor does it even include all the books, pamphlets, and articles which I
have consulted in compiling this volume ; but it should be sufficient as a
guide for those who wish to go deeper into the subject.

INDEX

Adrianople, 170, 271

Adriatic, navigation in, 54 ; pirates in, 190

Advocatus Comunis, 85

iCsculapius capital, 341-4

Albania. 59-60, 166; under Servian rule,

137 ; Venetians in, 163 ; Turks in, 259
Alexius Comnenus, Emperor of the East,

3S-6
Altomanovid, Nicholas, 165, 167, 175-6
Antium, Cape, battle of, x8o
Antivari, 136-8, 140; church of, 73;

trade with, 73
Apulia, 118, 246-7; pirates of, 123
Archbishops of Ragusa, Venetian, 39
Aristocracy, 298, 317, 333-7, 411-16
Arrengerius, Archbishop of Ragusa. 73
Art at Ragusa, 149 sq. , 339 sq.
Austria, Ragusan tribute to, 327
Austrian wars with Turkey. 321-4 ;

schemes on Ragusa, 383
Austrians in Dal mat ia, 382 sg. , 403 sg. ;

occupy Ragusa. 411
Avars destroy Salona and Epidaurum, 16

Bal§a. George, 177, 179; BaBa III..

202-4, 3IO ; Constantine Baiia. 190
Barbarossa. Haireddin, 8, 281-4
Barbary corsairs, 281, 283 ; States, 324
Basil II.. Emperor of the East, 61
Bavazet I.. 187, 191 ; II., 255, 258
Bela II., King of Hungary, 37 ; IV., no
Belgrad, 136. 225, 237. 261, 266, 324
Benedict XII., Pope, 113
Benessa, Piro, 63-4
Bergato. 107, 130 ; battle of. 394-5
Bol^li, Michele, 47, 63 ; Vito, 63
Bobovac, 102, 200. 201. 241
Bodazza, Lorenzo and Simone. 195
Bodino. legend of, 46-7, 61
Bogomilism, 53. xo8, in, 168, 223, 230
Bojana, river. 116. 118, 137
Bona, Giovanni, 373 ; Marquis, 404, 407 ;

Niccol6, 319, 320 ; Serafino, 245
Bosdari, Mayor of Ragusa, 415 ; Michele,

301
Bc^kovic. Ruggiero, 329, 381
Bosnia, 59, 60, 102-3, 167-8, 193, 219-

223, 227-8, 238-43, 248, 251-2. 261-2
Bosnia, bishopric of, no; envoys to,

320 ; Pashas of. 281. 296
Bosnian colony near Ragusa, 18. 19
Branivoj, 95-8
Bratutti, Niccolo, 373
Braxza, 199, 205-9

4»I

British fleet, operations of, 401 sq.
Brskovo, 141, 143
Bru6re, French Consul. 387-8, 399
Bucchia brothers, 97 ; Giorgio. 319-21
Budua. 176-7

Cab(jga, Biagio, 301 ; Count Biagio Ber-
nard, 392,3^9,400. 404; Marino. 319-21

Calvino, Crisostomo. Archbishop of
Ragusa. 292-3

Canalesi.404, 407

Canali. 12. 15, 206; revolt in, 385-6

Candia, war of. 296, 318

Candiano, Pietro I., i3oge of Venice, 27 ;
III.. Doge of Venice, 27

Castelnuovo, 184, 281-3, 3^^

Castello of Ragusa, 151, x6o. 340-41

Cathedral of Ragusa. 151-3 ; Treasury.
301-2, 367-8

Cattaro, 59. 91-2, 99. 124. 140, 168. 175,
177, 180, 181, 204. 211 ; Bocche di, 59.
322 ; Three Martyrs of. 1 14

Cemomen, battle of, 170-1

Charles V. , 286-8, 307-8

Chioggia war, 180-82

Christian fleet, 228; Leagues. 280, 286;
prisoners, 285. 292

Church, Eastern and Western, 222

Citizens, classes of, 335-6

Clissa, 185, 281, 293

Coinage of Ragusa, 145, 192

Constantine Falaeologus, Empwror, 264

Constantinople captured by Crusadeis.
50 ; captured by Turks, 235 ; Ragusans
at, 116, 118. 151 ; routes to, 266 sq.

Constitution of Ragusa, 79, 87-8, 330

Counts of Ragusa, Venetian, 24, 70. 71

Crnoevi^, Radi£, 191

Croatia, 262, 401

Cubranovi(5, Andrija, 375

Culin, Banus of Bosnia, 53, 61, no, in

Curzola. 7, 199. 205-9, 402 ; battle of, 91

Dabisa. King of Bosnia. 193
D'Ajala, 333, 383, 386, 389-90, 409
Dalmatia, geographical position, i ; con-
quered by the Romans, 8 ; by Odova-
kar. 9 ; theme of, 9. 10 ; conquered by
Venice, 32-4; Imperial authority
revives in, 34 ; conquered by Hungary.
163 sq. ; reconquered by Venice.
2x1-12 ; invaded by the Turks, 281-2 ;
the French in, 390 sq.
Dance, church of, 351 ; paintings in, 361

2 E

422

INDEX

Dandolo, Enrico, D<^e of Venice, 50;

Giovanni, Count of Ragusa, 62 ; Prov-

veditore of Dalmatia, 401
Delgorgue, General, 394-S
Delort, Colonel, 399, 400
Demetrius Palaeologus, Despot of the

Morea, 265
Dessa, Prince of the Serbs, 37
Diplomacy. Ragusan, 88-9, 288, 291
Dobroslav, Prince of the Serbs, 34
Doclea, 62, 166 ; archbishopric of. 51
^Dominican monastery at Ragusa, 156-7,

304 ; paintings in, 363-4 ; at Merro, 358
Dominicans at Ragusa. 113; in Bosnia,

112
Driid, Gjore, 373 ; Marino, 375
Dubrovnik, 18. See also Ragusa
Dulcigno, 136, 138
Ehirazzo. 7, 10, 118, 163, 166, 248
Dusan, Stephen, Tsar of the Serbs. 60,

96-8
Dutch in the Mediterranean, 314-15

Earthquakes at Ragusa, 260, 298-305
Elizabeth, widow of Louis of Hungary.

167, 183
England, trade with, 264; incident with,

329
English colony at Ragusa, 275

Epidaurum, 7. 15

Eugene IV., Pope, 228; of Savoy, 324

Fano, treaty with. 55

Ferdinand, Emperor of Germany, 293

Ferrara war, 257-8

Florence, connection with, n8, 272-3

Foda, 133, 267

Fonton, Russian consul, 388-93

Forte Molo, 357; San Giovanni, 291;

Imperiale, 408, 410
Fortifications of Ragusa, 291
Forty Martyrs, feast of, 215-16
Franciscan monastery at Ragusa, 153-6,

304 ; at Mezzo, 359 ; at Stagno, 360
Franciscans at Ragusa, 113
French occupy Ragusa, 392 ; their rule

in Ragusa, 396, 401
French party at Ragusa, 387-8, 398
French Revolutionary wars, 333 sq.

Galliani, Archbishop of Ragusa, 327
Garagnin, G. D., 401
George Brankovid , Despot of Servia , 226-7
Gervase, Count of Ragusa, 47-8
Ghetaldi, Marino, 380; Rector of Ragusa,

298
Giordani, Onofrio, 341-8, 352-3
Giorgi, Colonel, 408; Damiano. 229;

Marsilio, Count of Ragusa, 73 ; Matteo,

181

Giuda, Damiano, 63-4

Giuppajia, 107, 120

Giustiniani, Marco, Count of Ragusa, 70

Gondola, Francesco, 286-8; Francesco
Giuseppe, 331 ; Giacomo, 198 ; Gio-
vanni, see Gundulid

Gozze, Giovanni, 372-3; Marino, 221,
319-21 ; Niccol6, 195-6; Raphael, 323

Grado, Patriarchate of, 39, 67

Grand Council, 82, 85

Gravosa, 107, 120. 273, 303, 357-8, 408

Gregory VII., Pope, on Dalmatian
Church, 51

Grgurid, 409, 410

Grimani, Patriarch of Venice, 282

Gropa, Lord of Ochrida, 166

Gunduli^, Ivan, 376-80

Heraclius, Emperor. 21

Herzegovina, 191, 234-5, 242, 255-6;

Sandjakbegs of, 281, 284
Hlum, 12, 61-2, 94-5, 135, 166-7, 174-5
Hoste. Sir William, 402-4, 407-8
Hrvoje, Duke of Spalato, 193, 197-201
Hungary, connection of Dalmatia and
Ragusa with, 35, 105, 163, 173, 351-a,
256, 261-3; civil wars in, 183; con-
quered by Austria, 321-4
Hunyadi, John, 227. 229. 230

IsAK Beg, 219, 223-4, 226, 238

Jajce, 240, 242, 261-2

John, Archbishop of Racusa, 73

John Zapolya, Iving of Hungary, 362

Kara Mustafa, 318-21

Kiriko, 398, 399

Klju^, 130, 242

Kosada, Stephen, Duke of St. Sava, 334-5

Kossovo, 139 ; first battle of. 186 ; second

battle of, 229
Kotromanic, Stephen , Ban us of Bosnia,6i
Kresevo, 143 ; Diet of, 228
Kroia, 230, 246, 248, 254

Lacroma, 54, 286

Ladislas, King of Hungary, 35, 337-9;

Posthumus, King of Hungary, 339;

Ladislas XL, King of Hungary, 358;

of Naples, 198
Lagosta. island of, 30, 31, 87, 107, 394
Latin Empire of the ^st, 50 ; colonials

at Rafusa, 80; poets at Ragusa. 378-3
Laudo Populi, 24-5, 79
Lazar, Knez, 165, 186
Leopold I. , Ejnperor of Austria, 331-3
Lesma, island of, 7, 199, 205-9, 4^3
Levant, Spanish expedition to. 308-11
Louis, King of Hungary, 103-4, 163, 168